Hey guys. I am so sorry that I haven't been updating regulary. It's been an eventful couple of weeks for me, and things have been a bit hectic. I'm settling in though, so hopefully things will change. Thank you guys so much for your patience!
The crowds filed into the new building as employees opened the doors for the first time. Kids cheered, holding onto their parent's hands. Caleb watched from the parking lot. He was back in his Fazbear's uniform, and back at work, but things were bittersweet.
They'd gotten involved in something very dangerous. And there was still a solemn atmosphere as the team had prepared to open earlier that morning. John and Caleb stayed out of each other's way for the most part. After what John kept from him, it would be awhile before things truly went back to normal.
"Hey Caleb!" a voice called. Caleb whirled around.
"Luke?" Caleb called out back, squinting at the figure a short distance away, "What the hell are you doing here?"
"The police let me off!" Luke said happily, grinning, "It wasn't easy, but we cooked up a decent story for the press and I didn't get charged. What about you? Been okay?"
"Could be worse," Caleb replied, smiling weakly.
"John told me things have been awkward," Luke admitted, his smile fading, "I don't know all the details, but I know enough. He shouldn't have hid a secret like that from you, but he was just trying to do what was right. You understand that, right?"
"Yeah, I do," Caleb said sadly, "It'll just take awhile for things to go back to normal."
"It's gonna take more than awhile," Luke said, glancing around, "Walk with me, we gotta talk."
Luke led Caleb away from the restaurant. It was a chilly day. The sky was grey and cloudy, and rain had been predicted. Caleb followed Luke down the road to a small park. They both sat down on a bench. Apart from them and a few birds, the place was empty.
"It's time I told you why I was with those guys," said Luke, "Caleb, you should know that what I'm telling you will put you in a lot of danger, so if you don't wanna hear it, say so now."
"If I learnt anything from the standoff four months ago, it's that I'm already in danger. So spit it out."
"Alright," Luke said, "I came from a poor family, Caleb. My dad never finished school, and it was very difficult for him to make a living. Just supporting him and my mother was hard enough, but they had me and my sister to feed as well. Eventually, my dad didn't have any other choice. Our neighborhood was being torn to shreds by gang warfare, and my dad ended up joining one of them. Can't remember the name. "The Saints" or some bullshit.
"They weren't like other gangs, from what I remember. They saw themselves more as vigilantes than criminals, and they did a lot to clean up the streets. My dad became a respected lieutenant, which made him a target. One night, a bunch of rival street thugs turned up at our house. My dad's gang got word that we'd been targeted and wanted to warn him, but their leader said no.
"They went behind him, though, and scrambled to send backup. They were too late though. By the time they showed up, my father and mother had been shot dead, my sister had been kidnapped, and I'd been shot in the stomach. They found me in the bathroom, unconscious and bleeding. They ran off with me, patched me up, and told me what happened. I was only eleven. One of the guys, who'd betrayed the gang, told me that one day, we'd take revenge. His name was Walter Schmidt, Mike Schmidt's brother."
"What?" Caleb replied, "You knew Mike Schmidt?"
"I knew of him," Luke corrected, "I'd only met him a couple times. He came to my rescue though, and I thanked him and the others for saving me. We all started our own gang, and became absurdly rich and powerful, but Mike couldn't take the heat. The coward left the gang, and ended up working at Freddy's."
"Jesus Christ," Caleb said, "Luke, I'm so sorry."
"It's okay," Luke replied, "What matter right now is that the gang is still powerful, and when Walter lost contact with Mike, he suspected that he'd been killed, so he sent me and two others to find out what happened.
"I tried to talk him out of it, saying that we shouldn't be taking innocent lives to find Mike, but he wouldn't listen. He told us to find him, and any cost. So he sent me and those two other fuckers to track him down. So I took a risk, and betrayed the gang. Now, Walter Schmidt wants my head delivered to him."
"You're sure?"
"I know for certain. He sent a text message to my apartment after the standoff at the old building. He wants me dead."
"Does John know?" Caleb asked.
"I told him a few months ago. He's letting me crash at his place. I've got a fake I.D, but I don't know how long I'll be able to avoid Schmidt. Either way, we're in deep shit."
"We'll handle it," Caleb said, "We've been through so much already, we'll help you out, Luke."
The new building wasn't massive, but it had a lot more packed into it. The front doors opened into the main dining hall where the band performed. The walls were covered in the typical white, blue, black and red wallpaper from the old building. The floor consisted of blue and red tiles, and the roof was twice as high as in old building. Across from the doors, at the opposite end of the room, was the stage. The purple curtains were drawn, and Bonnie and Chica roamed the room, posing for pictures. Through the sounds of voices, of children laughing, of the upbeat music playing over the speakers, Caleb thought he heard Freddy's deep laugh in distance.
Left of the doors were the bathrooms, and behind the it kitchen. Adjacent to them, separated by a staff corridor, was the maintenance room. At the end of the corridor was the office. Right of the doors was another corridor, wider, and on one side of it was the arcade, on the other were three party rooms.
Caleb wandered around, chatting with customers occasionally. He saw Lewis, the day shift guard, wander around in his security guard outfit, surveying the scene, moving from room to room. Caleb wasn't certain, but he thought he saw Lewis's eyes linger on him briefly.
He felt a tap on his shoulder, and Caleb turned around.
"We need to talk," John said. His skin was pale and his tone grim. He gestured for Caleb to follow him. He led Caleb away from everyone else and into the office.
"What's up?"
"One of the old animatronics is missing."
"What?"
"It's one of our oldest, second only to Golden Freddy. Fred Fazbear had him built awhile before the old diner went bankrupt. When the company got revived, we put him in a safe room. Very few people know about him. He was meant to be a hybird between animatronic and human mascot. My old manager always said he was like a precursor to Bonnie."
Caleb recalled something he had seen in the secret room in the old building. In the opened crate, a yellow suit, tattered and worn.
"Here, I have a picture of it," John said, handing him a photograph.
It was an old black and white photo. A man in trousers and a white shirt stood next to a tall mascot. Unlike the animatronics of today, it had five fingers instead of three. It's head and body were more rounded, but the ears and patterns on the suits were identical to that of the Bonnie Caleb knew. It even had a similar face. Caleb couldn't tell, but he suspected that it's color was yellow.
John then handed him another photograph. This one was in color, but it featured the same suit. But it was different. Part's of the torso had been ripped off, and it's head had been opened at the jaw. The entire suit was drenched in a red substance. But what was most disturbing was what was behind the face of that suit. A crushed, bloody mess with empty eye sockets. A mess that had once been a human head.
