On the Run
The world beyond the limitations of the Pizza Plex proved to be as terrifying as it was fascinating; but for these rogue animatronics, it was their only hope at salvation. They fled their prison under the cover of night, long after the final group of workers had grown tired of searching for them. One good push was all that it took to send the half eaten wall crumbling down. One good push was all that it took to set them free. Of the half dozen animatronics which had endured their neglect for all these years, only two had found it in them to be brave enough to break the ties of their protocol to escape their fate. One did so boldly. The other followed out of fear. A bold and outgoing AI which sought only to escape and to protect its twin - and an AI whose chipper nature had become so overwhelmed by what they had endured, that it seemed as though they had forgotten what happiness even was.
They fled their confinement quickly, but cautiously. Where they sensed the activity of humans, they did well to avoid it. Their massive, heavy bodies somehow moved with a surprising amount of silence. Only a click or a rattle heard over the stillness of the late night air. Together they moved under the cloak of night, purposefully dimming the light that would otherwise shine from their bodies. While freed from their original prison, they were not safe yet. Any human that they might encounter would be viewed as a threat to their existence. A single sighting was all that it would take for them to be hunted down and decommissioned. Stealth was key - but it was a difficult key to utilise. The Pizza Plex had been abandoned in the middle of a crowded city. The location had been considered prime real estate at the time of its founding.
In the days of old, it would have been a blessing to be somewhere where humans were practically guaranteed to be around. Right now it was a curse. Systems indicated that the area was crowded with people. Massive buildings which seemed to reach well into the sky had been filled with living bodies. The streets and alleys proved to be just as crowded. Their escape became a dangerous game of hide and seek. A game that they could not afford to lose. The lone saving grace seemed to be the time at which they had decided to flee. While streets seemed busy with cars, those lingering in the space between buildings seemed disinterested in the world around them. Humans were everywhere - but the ones found in the alleys were sound asleep. The few who seemed to be awake could hardly be bothered by the animatronics which wandered through the scene.
Under any other situation, protocol would have demanded that the authorities and medical personnel were contacted. Those found awake were not found in the best physical state. The people lingering in the allies lived lives just as unfortunate as the AI which cautiously crept by them. Their bodies were failing them. Some as a result of being on the streets. Others as a result of the toxic substances that they chose to abuse. The medical assessment systems which had been incorporated into the foundation of these machines flagged them the ailments of every unfortunate soul that they happened across. As guilty as it made them - at least one of them - these unfortunate souls were left behind to endure their suffering. A conscious choice to abandon the sick and suffering to whatever fate may befall them.
The desperation of their escape overruled the very foundation of their programming. Protocols were manually deactivated in order to prevent mishaps. Though the guilt would still linger. For beings which had been specifically designed to fulfil a number of purposes, there came a genuine distress when that purpose could not be fulfilled. Part of their design practically demanded that they assure that these sick people could be helped. Never before had the line between AI and robot been so clearly drawn in the sand for them to see. A robot was bound strictly to the rules which it had been given. An AI had more freedom while not being granted the status of being truly free. A robot would do what it was programmed to do all the way to the bitter end. An AI might do the same, so long as it had not yet learned how it felt to be desperate to survive.
AI could learn. That was what made these animatronics so valuable to Fazbear Entertainment. Decades of time had gone into teaching various strings of AI how to act. How to feel. The blunder of the company had been leaving these AI alone to rot. Many of them had been abandoned in the past; but they had simply been locked away and humans had always been kept around them. There had always been the underlying hope that the imprisonment would end whenever an AI was put into storage. After years alone in a scenario in which the options were to endure or die, the AI had learned what it meant to try and survive. As such they had been changed enough by their experiences to be willing to ignore their protocols as the alerts went off. Whether this was something that they had always been able to do, or something that they had simply learned how to do as a necessity was impossible to determine.
For hours they roamed under the cover of darkness. For hours they did anything they could to avoid detection. Dozens of sick or injured humans were discovered but left to their fate. Dozens of buildings stocked to the brim with potential threats of detection were cautiously passed and left behind. Until at last the signs of life began to thin out. Pavement and stone gradually made way for dirt and greenery. The buildings became smaller and farther apart. The vibrant, disorienting light of the cities faded away, allowing the natural glow of the stars in the sky to illuminate their future. A large, empty structure drew their attention just as the first signs of daylight began to creep into the sky. Under the cover of darkness, it was impossible for them to detect if there had been any recent human activity.
As it were, the structure - a warehouse - was large and they knew that it was empty. The only life found inside came in the form of scurrying rats or nesting birds. The shelter would prove a good enough place to settle until the cloak of night returned. At the moment, they could rest. At the moment, they could look beyond all of their fears and all of their troubles to finally take in the wonder of the world that they had never before laid their eyes upon. A brief relief was allowed to wash over them as they observed the natural beauty of dawn. Completely silent, but huddled together, they watched as the deep indigo of the night sky evolved into the pale azure of the day. They studied the sky as the sun appeared to ignite the early morning, casting the horizon alight in colors that even the most vibrant fires would envy.
Blue. Orange. Yellow. Pink. Where the clouds lingered contently in the sky, the ripples of color appeared as though they were attempting to break free of their own confinement. For as advanced as their vocabularies were, they could find no words which described the vast beauty of the scene as it unfolded. Beautiful did not satisfy their longing to describe it. Glorious, also did not satisfy them. Yet these were the words that came the closest to describing what they could see. Unfortunate as it was, this moment of relief could not last. They had not yet moved far enough away from the city to feel secure. A few lone vehicles passed them by, and as such they knew it was time to hunker down in their temporary shelter to wait for nightfall. As of now they could stand to wait to restock their fuel supplies. As of now, it was best for them to rest.