Chapter 5: The Second Night, Pt. 1 (I Warned Ye!)

There's something to be said for having friends. There's something even more to be said about having friends willing to kick you in the ass if it'll do you a world of good. But if you ever have a friend that not only lets you sleep through your classes after a hard night's work, but told your professors you were sick, picked up your assignments, and when you called to complain to them about being left to sleep they tell you to "get your head out of your ass, eat something, and then go back to sleep" before hanging up on you... There aren't really any words that need to BE said about having those kinds of friends. Well, maybe 'assholes' could be tossed in, those same friends will laugh at you while you're hung over as they're cooking eggs.

That was the state I found myself in when I woke up somewhere around noon, slumped over on the couch with my boots still on and a spare blanket tossed on me. I might have been tucked in, but I couldn't tell since I shift in my sleep so much. To say I was annoyed was kind of an understatement, I was down right pissed off. My passing from 'fully asleep' to 'bright and alert' was only helped along by a fresh pot of coffee that had been left prepared when I woke up, a fact I was only privy to because of Rico's note on the kitchen counter. That alone saved them from imminent death, I told myself as I sipped at the hot black brew and sat back on our couch, catching up on the news. More shit in the Gaza Strip, no surprise. That'll keep up till there isn't anyone left anywhere to give a fuck anymore.

I pulled myself out of my cynical worldview on geo-politics to remind my brain that I wasn't supposed to be going through my morning routine, I should be getting ready for classes. A note from Jon, though, stopped that cold when I saw it where he'd left it on the coffee table. How had I missed that? He was telling me not to worry, that he would collect my assignments. Which is when the aforementioned phone call happened and I was left staring at my phone in disbelief. That arrogant, self-righteous bastard, who was he to tell me what to do and how to live my life? Who was he to suggest I'm being an ass and tell me to start eating a hot meal for the first time in fifteen hours? To suggest I drag my ass over to the bed and-

You know those moments you realize you've been talking to yourself, rather loudly, voicing your thoughts? I had one right there, and it made me stop and take stock of things.

I ended up making tomato soup, just to ease anyone's burning curiosity.

Eleven hours and fifteen minutes later, we were in Rico's borrowed car and sitting outside the Pizzeria, looking out at it from our seats in the car. It looked mostly deserted save for the one other car outside and the dim outline of a light from inside, probably Mr Ross or someone asked to hold the fort until I showed up. We'd gotten there about five minutes ago, but we still hadn't gotten out of the car, Jon wanting a chance to catch up and get some more information. In that moment he reminded me of his dad, when his dad had still been in the Army. Good man, if a bit severe. Jon had that same kind of intensity sometimes, but he wasn't as bitter as his father.

I repeated some of what I'd said earlier, but in more detail. The layout of the building and the employee area, how to reach the kitchen, where all the doors are, stuff like that. Calling it a 'briefing' would have implied some kind of plan in mind for the evening, but there wasn't one. I had tried, with no success, to convince them they shouldn't come with me, that it was more dangerous than they believed. I really shouldn't have tried that, they were both pretty tough and could handle themselves pretty well, which lent them all kinds of confidence that was not the same as arrogance since they knew they could die. And they were my friends, and they wanted to help me, and they wanted to prove that the animatronics didn't try to kill me, that it was just some assholes getting their jollies by terrifying people with potentially dangerous pranks.

Now I know how the guys in all those Jason movies feel. The ones with the big tough guy bully friends calling out Jason before he guts them. I love my friends, but damn it why didn't they believe me when I told them it'd been dangerous? They'd seen all the same movies!

Of course, Rico had pointed out that I was going back in there, even though I believed there were demonic children's characters inside. Who was dumber? They coming along or me going alone?

Have I mentioned my friend Rico's an asshole?

Finally, realizing that the three of us were putting it off when Jon had asked me the same question three times about my office, I sighed and opened the back door of the little four door sedan, getting up to walk out into the chill Detroit night air. Jon and Rico would wait for me to give them a call before coming in, not wanting whoever was inside to get a look at their faces, and so hunkered down in the front seats while I marched right on up to the front door, raising a hand to knock at the glass.

Right before I could, a face appeared in the gloom and I fought the urge to jump back in surprise. It must have showed I'd almost done so, because the face took on a shade of amusement to it. The lock clicked, and the door opened to reveal the person more fully. And I got to meet the either the Final Girl of my own personal horror film, or that promiscuous best friend of the final girl that's offed second. I never got that, to be honest, what was wrong with liking sex? Movie logic is weird.

Oh, right, the girl. My brain kicked back on the right track and reminded me I should smile apologetically at her for maybe staring, whilst taking in details. About five five, my age or close enough, short cut blonde hair with a mix of red dyed in I didn't know the name of, with black rimmed stylish eye glasses framing pretty brown eyes...
Jeremy, introduce yourself you creep, you're staring again at her soft, lovely- oh for fuck's sake, Jeremy! Say hello!

She beat me to it, her smile turning knowing and a little devilish that wasn't helped by dark red lip gloss. "I am what's usually called a 'female', girl, or a woman, if you're not sure what you're looking at, mister..." She drew out the last r, making it a question, and I had to smack myself in the head mentally while physically I was reaching out a hand to her to shake. She took mine and squeezed back with a good amount of strength in the grip. Firm, calloused hands.

"Jeremy Titus. Sorry, I was expecting..." I really wasn't sure who I was expecting, but she made her own conclusion and gestured for me to follow her in as she rolled her eyes and made a groan. "We call her a lot of different things, but I like 'the trout' personally. You're the new night guard?"

Now that I'd heard some more from her, and that I was able to concentrate again as I walked in behind her, I placed the voice and where I'd heard it before. "Yes I am, Rachael."
The use of her given name made her pause and turn, tilting her head to regard me cautiously, and my smile was a little smug as I looked back at her. Our outfits were pretty distinct contrasts, I had my security garb on with belt and cell phone. Still no gun, Rico and Jon had managed to talk me out of it to prevent any accidents. She, on the other hand, wore street clothes instead of any kind of uniform, blue jeans that hugged her legs and hips with a baby blue t-shirt inside a snug looking brown leather jacket. An honest to God bombardier. Girl had taste.

I continued to smile, even as I walked in past her. "You answered the phone yesterday and handed me off to Mr Ross." I said casually, and that got a smile from her as well, wiping away the suspicion and giving me a bit of satisfaction as gentle guilt entered the expression. "Sorry, I-" I waved it off, looking back at her and grinning in understanding. "Nah, I get it. Probably get your share of weirdos here, but I'm not one of them. Too busy-"

She cut me off with another apology. "I'm sorry, I'd stay and talk but I'm only here to make sure you got in alright." She tossed me the keys and snatched up a back pack I hadn't seen, turning to walk out. I was about to follow her, but something told me to just call out after her with a "drive safe" as she hurried out to her car. I made the pretense of locking up behind her, but as her car pulled out of the shopping center's parking lot, Rico and Jon were already getting out of the car and grabbing their stuff.

I'll say this for my friends. They might be well-meaning and stubborn, but they also understood the idea of not taking too many chances. Jon was packing a crow bar, a nice tool for getting across the idea to someone's body he's punishing them for being a fucking moron, and Rico had decided to go the traditional route of a wooden Louisville Slugger, ala Al Capone for getting his point across. Nicely legal things to just be carrying around with reasonable explanations for them if any cops came by. True, they could be nasty weapons, but that wasn't their intended use here, officer! There's supposed to be a big wooden crate arriving soon with a new animatronic, or so I was told, and Jon's here to help! Rico? Oh he came to help too, and he thought afterward he'd go hit the batting cages to blow of some steam about his ex! I'm the night guard, here's my card.

Yeah, I know, no cop worth his salt would believe it, but it'd be enough smoke and mirrors to at least distract the issue and try to change the topic. Not something we could do if, say, Jon and Rico had come with shotguns.

Their first couple minutes inside the place were spent looking around at everything they could with flash lights, their faces both nostalgic and suspicious. Well, Rico was looking suspicious, Jon looked like he wanted to tease me about the girl I'd made run away. He held it in, of course, but he'd get me later. He always did. Aside from that, he was giving the place a good eying over. I gave them a quick tour, retreading old ground and exploring new territory, before we went into the back behind the curtains...and we found my tormentors.

There we sat. And there we waited for midnight. It wasn't a companionable silence, truth be told, with Jon and Rico barely giving the bots any real minding aside from the occasional stroll through memory lane with a story or two, but I didn't share in the mood. They still didn't believe me, I knew it, and part of me resented that while another part was just glad they were here. That I wouldn't be alone. And that I'd find out, for good or ill, if maybe, juuust maybe, I'd just had a mental breakdown last night and needed help of a different nature.

The clock struck twelve, we all tensed...
And nothing happened.

The nothing continued to happen, I saw, for five minutes. Bonnie, Chica, and Freddy, stood still as statues and showed no sign of stirring to life. I felt my cheeks flush as Jon turned to look at me. I didn't look back, I glared at the robots. "Well?" I said, glaring at the machines with utter disgust and hate. "Come on! Don't just stand there!" The guys got up just after I started to, my voice rising in irritation.

"I'm right here, damn you! Wake up!" My hand was a blur of motion, pulling the tonfa from my belt and putting it into a momentum building spin before I lashed out at Freddy's stupid grinning face. I never landed the hit, Jon and Rico were there to grab me and drag me away. I'm strong, but Jon's got me beat by a couple dozen pounds and he had Rico there to manage me as well. Probably didn't help me that my struggles were more out of frustration than actual intent of escape, so they had little trouble taking me out into the dining room, where Rico backhanded me right in my open, raging mouth.

The blow stunned me out of my well-placed fury and dazed me for half a second, and Jon let me go to slump down and sit. "You see, Jer?" Rico's latino accented voice drifted to my ears, and it made me look up at him from where I was sitting, catching my breath. I must have looked pretty bad, because he was looking at me with all the sympathy and worry in the world. "You had some jokers playing a trick on you last night. They aren't alive." "But..." I started to say, my voice straining. It hadn't been guys in suits, I knew it, right? Hell, was I sure it had even happened and I just hadn't been slipped something in the coffee machine in the break room to make me trip out for five hours?

I looked up to Jon, hoping to see support there, but... he wasn't looking at me. He was looking back to the curtains and the back stage steps they'd just dragged me down. And his face was one of utter disbelief.

My face must have reflected my own new confusion, because Rico looked at Jon too and shared my thoughts. But we didn't get to ask because we heard the whirring of servos and the heavy step of felt covered plastic coating machinery. We all stared.

Bonnie the Bunny, all seven or eight feet of him, was walking down the steps. Right towards us.

I'd been right. It was all real. "Fuck me..."

Author's Notes: Hello again, all. Sorry for the wait, but you all know how the holidays can get, especially as the end of the year sometimes means you're double-timing it at work. I know, more build up, and with not a lot of pay off, but this is really more exercise while putting my own spin on a favorite game at this point, and I like doing this. Review, criticize, call me a bastard or something, but feel free to leave me a comment.

Next time, we start the ride all over again and Everyone's favorite pirate finally puts in his first real appearance. Take care!