I test the door, ready to run back to the office, but it doesn't creak. I open it just enough to slip through. God damn. I'm in the same room as the animatronics. Freddy and Bonnie are still on stage and Chica's still staring up at the camera. I can see them, and there's no door or window separating us. Got to stay prone, below the tables. Work my way around the Dining Area.

I hear gears shifting. S_. Chica's moving. Don't move. Just don't move, Mike.

I'm underneath a table. If I bring out my tablet, the light will give me away. Where's Chica looking?

Someone's choking. Did one of the kids get caught again? Wait…where's the sound coming from? Haven't I heard that bef…f_.

Right behind me. Chica's right behind me. All she has to do is tip over the table and I'm screwed. She's still making that f_ing choking sound. Right behind me. Right in my ear. God damn. I'm sweating like a pig. Can they smell me? Are they just messing with me?

There's movement. Footsteps. Big and heavy footsteps. I think that they're moving away but I can't tell. Can't miss this chance though. There's a door on the wall in front of me. Got to hide, got to get my breath back.

I'm in. I'm in. Where? I look around. I turn the tablet on. It gives light, but not too much to give me away. The Kitchen. Damn. One door off. I've got to get moving if I want to get those kids. I check the tablet. Freddy's on stage still, but Bonnie isn't. Dining Area. There he is, but now where's Chica? East Hall. Good. Foxy? Still in the Cove. Maybe he can tell that I'm not in my office. Can any of them? Damn. What if Chica goes to the office and hides herself there? Well, then we're all f_ed. Come to think of it, if she's still in the East Hall by the time I get the kids, we won't be able to get to the office at all. We'll have to go down the West Hall, past Foxy. Maybe that's for the best. Still though, they've got us all pretty well boxed in.

What the hell am I going to do? Did I really think it would be that easy to sneak around the store like this?

I've got time to breath. I can think more now. I don't see any path that I take that doesn't put me close to an animatronic. I can't take the risk that I can just go right underneath their noses again, not without being prepared somehow to deal with them.

I can't believe I'm thinking this. This is the only thing Phone Guy didn't need to tell me not to do, because it comes down to common sense. I'm thinking of going head-to-head against one of those things. A 500 pound robot with the personality of a psychopathic child. How else am I going to get past Chica?

I look around the Kitchen. Maybe a knife? Yeah, it'll probably be easier if I just slit my wrists here that try to stab a metal animatronic. It'd probably just get caught in their suits anyway. I walk around, staying prone. There's a rolling pin on one of the counters. I grab it. Probably won't do anything more than piss them off, especially in my shape (Thank you again, Mr. Marlboro, and thank you Mr. Fazbear for introducing us.) Seriously, think! What's in this Kitchen that I can use? I look everywhere, for anything. There are a few knives that won't do anything, my rolling pin that won't do anything, and pizza ingredients. A bag of flour got left on the counter.

Wait, that might work. If I throw some flour in their faces, it might buy us a few seconds. I grab it and put it in the backpack.

Still though, doesn't look like there's anything that could fend off a terminator teddy bear. Children's pizzerias don't usually have RPGs in stock.

I pull up the tablet when it bumps into something for a second. I hold my breath, trying to see if anyone heard that. Can't hear anything. Then again, that could pretty much mean anything here. What did I bump it into anyway? The fridge. One of those jumbo, industrial sized things that stores get. Looks like something you could store uranium in. And yet for some reason, they've got fridge magnets on them. The animatronics' stupid cartoon faces holding up a note asking for Tuesday off…

Wait. Magnets.

The animatronics have the best hardware available, for 1987. I've heard that you never want to put a magnet on an old computer, that it really messes them up. If they had something from today, I wouldn't risk it, but with those old chips, if I could get a magnet on them, that could do some damage. I pull down all four of the animatronics' faces and put them in the backpack. Wait, no. In the pocket. Don't want them screwing with the tablet.

Good. I'm armed with a rolling pin, flour, and fridge magnets.

Got to check the cameras again. It won't be too long before the animatronics realize what I'm doing and mess with them. Dining Area. Nothing. Show Stage. Freddy's still there, keeping an eye on the Dining Area. East Hall corner. Chica's glaring up at the camera. At least she's pretty far away. West Hall. Bonnie. That means I've just got to get past Freddy to get to the Restrooms.

I stay prone in the center of the lanes, between the pots and pans on the shelves. Can't touch them. They'll make a racket. I can't believe there's only one door here. Come to think of it, why would the animatronics bother coming in here at all? Why not just go down the halls? Maybe they like the racket. Maybe they think it scares me. It does.

I brush against a pan handle that's sticking out and it makes a squeak. I hold my breath. Check the tablet. They're still in their places. I keep the tablet up while I make my way to the door. Dining Area's still clear. Just got to stay out of sight of Freddy. I push the door open. No noise. Nothing at all. I can just make out Freddy's outline on stage. Everything's perfectly quiet. Hope it stays that way.

This time I do crawl, making my way along the wall to the Restroom. The sound I make as I scoot on the carpet is making me crazy.

I touch something against the wall. Something sticky. Oh God…the kids…

I look down, ready to choke the scream in my throat. I almost groan in disgust. It's just a slice of pizza that some kid dropped.

The East Hall door slams open. The air gets sucked into my throat but not into my lungs. I look back there and see Chica, just standing in the doorway. Don't move. Don't move. Don't let her see you.

Eyes still on Chica, trying not to think about Freddy, I move up some more. I reach the Restrooms. Got to stay quiet. Got to take it slow.

I'm almost slithering now. I look up and vaguely see the sign for Men's and Women's restrooms. Which one did they go into? Damn it, why didn't I check before leaving the office? Can't bring the tablet out now. Too close, Freddy and Chica might see the light. Think Mike, think. They would have wanted to get as far away from the animatronics as possible so they'd move further into the stalls, so I probably saw them move into the Men's bathroom.

Takes a minute just to move the few feet to the end of the hall. I get through the door and realize something else that's going to make things difficult. How am I going to find the kids here without making them freak out? If I just start opening stalls and find them, they'll probably scream out, bringing the animatronics here. If I try searching with a flashlight, even from all the way in here, Freddy will see it.

I whisper out.

"Psst. Psst."

Nothing. Am I even in the right room?

"Anyone there?"

Maybe I heard a hush sound.

"I'm here to help. We've got to get to the security office."

One of the stalls creeps open. I see a girl's face. She sees me, and a boy peeks out, looks like her brother. I wave over.

"C'mon."

They look around the Restroom. They probably don't want to leave. I don't blame them, but we've got to move. I wave to them again. They crawl out in front of me.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Mike. I'm the night guard here."

"Why weren't you out there when our friends got attacked?"

"I didn't see you on the cameras until it was too late."

"What the hell are those things anyway?" The boy says. "They can't be the real Freddy group right?"

"They are. They get put into free-roam mode at night to keep their servos from locking up. I just stay in the office until 6 AM every night and keep an eye on them and try to keep them from killing me."

"Why are they doing this?" The girl asks. She's nearly crying.

"Why the hell do you work here?" The boy asks.

Aren't those the f _ing questions of my life. I can only really answer one.

"They think you're an endoskeleton without a costume. If they see you, they stuff you inside one and kill you."

"Did you see Gabe?" The girl whispers to me.

"Who? Is he one of your friends?"

"Lee and I lost him when Carla was killed. We must have split up."

I look back to the entrance to the Dining Area. It's dark enough that I think I can use the tablet again. I try to flip through the cameras to find something that I missed, when I hear screams. One from Foxy, and one from Gabe.

"Ga…!"

I put my hand over the girl's mouth before she can scream out. She keeps trying to scream through my hand. I feel her tears on it. Oh man, please calm down. I'm sorry about your friend, but please calm down.

"Quiet!"

"He's getting killed! We can't just…"

The kid is talking so loud I think that Foxy might actually abandon Gabe and come for us. I kick the kid in the nuts, hard.

"Shut up! Just shut up! We can't do anything for him!"

The girl stops trying the scream out, but she's shaking a lot and won't stop crying. I look at the tablet again, at the Pirate Cove. I don't see Foxy, but I look on the floor of the stage and see a pool of blood coming out from under the curtain. Gabe probably thought he found a safe place. He must have been hiding under tables this whole time, and found his way into the cove. How long was he there? Did he even see Foxy? I don't think that there's any light in there. Maybe he saw the "Out of Order" sign and thought there wouldn't be anything in there. Maybe Foxy wasn't sure what to make of him at first. Maybe he was still scared. Maybe Gabe only just now looked up and saw Foxy, right before Foxy jammed his hook into his throat. Damn it. I might have been in the Dining Area with him.

Shut up. Shut up and think. The others. Where are the others? East Hall and East Hall corner, empty. We have an open lane. Where's Chica though? I get the sudden feeling of something crawling up my back as I check the Restroom camera. She's not there. Good. I feel like that's the kind of thing they'd do. Boxing us in. Kitchen. I hear her banging around in there. Could she be tracking where I've been? Can't think that. Can't think that, or I'll go crazy. West Hall. Bonnie's still there. How long has he been there? Show Stage. Still, Freddy hasn't moved. I think that it doesn't seem right, but I'm not going to get another chance like this. We've got to move, now while there's an open lane to the Office. I look at the remaining kids. The girl's shaking like mad. The kid looks angry at me, but more scared.

"Okay, look. The East hall's open now, but I don't know for how long. We're going to get out of here, and go down to my office, and close the doors." I don't tell them about the fact that the doors run on power and we won't be able to keep them closed. They don't need to know that yet. The kid's about to say something again. I think I know what he's going to say, what he thinks. "This place isn't safe! You're sitting ducks if they check in here. I don't want to hear anything else, got it?" They're both staring at me, tensed up. They've got it. "Go as fast as you can but keep your head down. Ready? Go!"

We slip out of the Restrooms. I don't think I care about stealth right now. I just want to get back in my office. They can hear the sound of us crouch-running on the floor. C'mon, move!

We've gotten past the Kitchen and Chica. I make it to the East Hall door first and push it open. The kids go through and I'm right on them. We're in the home stretch; we're going to make it! We're at the office! We're at the…door?

Why's the door down? I didn't put it down. It was open when I left. It's just these kids left, so there couldn't have been anyone else who came down this way, except for Chica.

Chica.

That b_.

She's cut us off. We can't get into the office from here.