Some Things Are Better Left Buried

By: Miss-DNL

Chapter 4: Night One

It was eleven forty-five at night when Gregor Scott pulled into the vacant parking lot of the pizzeria. A typical, brown, lunch bag and coffee in hand he got out of his car, shutting the door soundly behind him. Gregor looked at the building, it looked a lot different at night. The happy brown bear, donning top hat and bowtie looked almost eerie. Gregor didn't look to much into the thought, as he walked up to the front doors. Everything looked different at night after all. Swapping his hot coffee to his other hand Gregor fished a key from his slacks.

Unlocking the front door Gregor was greeted by dark void of the inner building. The darkness was so thick he could hardly see past a few row of floor tiles. Again Gregor wasn't bothered as he entered the pizzeria, only turning around to lock the doors behind him. Depositing the key back into his pocket Gregor felt a chill whisk by him, it was colder in Freddy's than he expected. To warm himself he took a drink of his coffee, that worked nicely.

Coming into the security office he flicked the lights on. The florescent light bulb gave off a momentary buzz after being undisturbed for hours, but quickly died into the background. Feeling another chill go through him Gregor took an additional drink of his coffee as he sat down in his chair. He leaned back feeling at ease in the office, after decorating it the small room felt like a home away from home. Small yet cozy.

He placed his lunch and coffee onto the desk before taking up a moderately sized control tablet. It was a more updated version of the older model used in the previous pizzeria, not the most advanced version out there, but still pretty good. It didn't drain a lot of energy and was slimmer but still sturdy enough. If anything it looked nicer and was a bit of an upgrade. Having nothing better to do Gregor idly flipped through all the cameras. As expected nothing had changed since he left earlier today.

"Haunted pizzeria, yeah right." Gregor grunted to himself as he set the tablet back down. Honestly he didn't know how anyone could believe in ghosts. It was ridiculous really, there was no solid evidence. That aside he just couldn't believe that people could linger around after death, it just didn't make sense. Much less possess animatronics to carry out some hate fueled revenge scheme.

However, tonight he couldn't completely shut out the possibility. Springtrap came to mind. Despite how hard he denied it, something in his mind, something in the back of his head, was telling him that something was off about the withered animatronic. Like the feeling of him being watched when alone with it. Gregor had tried telling himself that it was the fact there was a corpse inside it, but that wasn't all of it. Part of it no doubt, but the thing looked and felt off to be around.

The time when Clifton was locking the animatronic's joints was most recent in his memory. It had been later in the day after they discovered the animatronic was a tomb. The mechanic asked Gregor to stay and help him out with the task. In reality the man just wanted someone else with him when he did it. Inwardly Gregor couldn't blame him.

"Clifton, why did you tell me to stay and help you if I'm just going to stand here?" Gregor had irately asked as he stood near the wall opposite of Springtrap. The farther he was away from the thing the better. He was a bit annoyed with the fact that he was standing around doing nothing. Gregor felt something rise up in his stomach as he watched the mechanic trying to fit the torso back over the murderer's corpse. This was something he really could do without watching. Twisting his face in disgust Gregor looked away before continuing, "Because I'd rather not stand and watch this…"

Taking a moment to breath Clifton looked at the younger man, "Look, I just didn't want to be left along with this…" He looked pointedly at the tomb of an animatronic, "thing."

Gregor gave him a look. Clifton flicked his hands up in the air, "It's grin creeps me out, okay?"

"The mouth covering is worn away Clifton, that's the only reason it's 'grinning'." Gregor pointed out flatly, while not really looking at the rotting animatronic. He couldn't believe he was doing this. Standing a few feet away from a dead body, a dead body of child killer at that! Watching a mechanic reseal the corpse in the suit and locking the joints. To top it all off they were going to hide the body by sealing the room up.

This is so messed up. And illegal…Gregor thought dismally to himself.

"Just stand there and be look out then." Clifton snapped shortly as he forced himself to get back to work. He couldn't help but inwardly cringe each time his fingers or hand brushed against the murderer's rotting flesh. It felt so wrong, this was so wrong. Each touch made his skin crawl, and he was going to have to go home to his wife and kid after this! Clifton shook his head, he was going to need a nice, long, hot shower after this.

Gregor only gave a half attempted grunt in response, while he turned his slate grey eyes to the door. Shifting in place he crossed his arms, feeling some sort of security with them up against his chest, like a hug of comfort. Yet even with that his heart felt tense, ready to start beating quickly at a moment's notice. He was ready to up and run. His eyes glued on the door helped enough to distract himself from what Clifton was doing, and what he was near.

The earlier incident had caused a stir among the workers, the sounds of the spring locks going off spoked several workers. The three of them had managed to keep them from entering the room thankfully, telling them it had just been a minor incident with the animatronic. The workers bought it after Clifton explained the spring lock mechanism. They did; however, have to relocate the supplies towards the front of the building, to avoid anyone spotting what lay within the animatronic. The workers didn't mind, made it easier for them to get what they needed. Still, it remained tense until they left.

It being too risky to try and reseal the corpse it during the day, when people would be coming to them with questions, they had to wait till later. What better time to hide a body? No, that wasn't the only reason. Each of them wanted to be away from what they found. Have a few hours trying to pretend it didn't exist. To retain some denial of who they had more than likely found, and of what he had done. One man's actions had turned the whole town upside down. He'd reminded them of what a person could be capable of. That monsters were real and they looked like any other person.

The rest of the time went by quietly, neither of them spoke again. The only sounds came from the suit as Clifton tried to get the flesh and parts to come together again. A sound of metal popping solidly into place signaled that they were done.

Finally, after what seemed like day, but was only around fifteen minutes in reality, Gregor looked back at Springtrap. He repressed a shudder, it still looked gruesomely horrifying. That same wicked grin leering at him, as if laughing at him for the crime he was helping commit. What he was helping hide. The Phone Guy felt something in him seize up, no, it wasn't laughing. He wasn't sure how but he felt an anger come from it.

Clifton muttered something along the lines of "come on" and began to leave. Gregor nodded automatically and he followed his cohort-or rather accomplice, out of the room. Gregor wasn't sure why, but he looked back. Nothing was different, same madly grinning, decaying bunny animatronic sitting against the wall. Giving off a presence it shouldn't be able to.

Gregor was snatched from his memories when he heard a thudding noise. He jumped in his chair causing it to jostle in place. He'd been so enveloped in his memories that he'd zoned out. The night guard shook his head, trying to dislodge the image of the rotting Springtrap from his mind and focus on the present. He grabbed the camera control pad from the desk. Something had probably just fallen, no need to leave the office for that. He stalled, what was there to fall? There were the pictures on the walls…but that wouldn't cause a thud. Quickly he looked around his office, hoping for an answer. Nothing, and now that he thought of it, the thudding sounded distant…

His body tensed as he heard several more thuds. Judging by the succession it seemed to be footsteps, but not ones made by shoes. Whatever was moving around sounded like it was padded yet at the same time heavy. Something immediately clicked in his mind.

Gregor snapped his eyes back to the screen on the tablet and pressed on the camera that viewed the main stage-camera one. Everything seemed to stop when he saw only two animatronics standing on the stage. Bonnie was missing. Only Freddy and Chica stood vigil, staring out into the blank darkness before them. Gregor's heart started running a marathon in his chest as he began to frantically searching for the bunny. Part of him was hoping that somehow a group of people had broken in, and were trying to steal the animatronic. He pleaded for anything but the rumors being true

Gregor searched and searched around the dark pizzeria, all the while in the background he could hear the thuds continuing off and on. Cold washed over him as he heard a noise coming from outside of the office. Breathing, heavy, rasping breathing. It reminded him of the noise that he heard from-No, it couldn't be Springtrap! He was sealed away! But that meant…The night guard, couldn't get himself to turn his head. He was too afraid.

More thudding footsteps, this time far too close for comfort. It was enough to force Gregor to slowly peel his eyes off the camera screen and look towards the door. There, peering in through the side of the open doorway was Bonnie. Physically the bunny hadn't changed, but there was something different. The animatronic didn't look friendly anymore. His jaws were open, smiling at Gregor almost in greeting as he stared at the night guard. Gregor didn't dare so much as twitch, fearing setting the creature off somehow.

He didn't need to though, his presence seemed to be enough for the animatronic. The robot's eyelids slanted, light red eyes glaring at him. Bonnie slowly moved away from the doorframe to make his way inside. In that moment Gregor reacted out of fear, and slammed the wooden door shut. He even locked it for good measure. The night guard slowly shifted back to the center of the room, too scared to make any noise.

A bang from the door Bonnie was behind caused Gregor to jump. The wooden door shook fearfully as the bunny pounded away on it. Terrified of what the animatronic might do to him Gregor began moving backwards. The door shook and shook, each hit wearing away at it more than the last. Gregor knew the obstacle wouldn't take long for the bunny robot to tear down, the door wasn't meant to be roughed with in such a manner. The night guard's breath hitched when the top hinge on the door was torn off the frame. Gregor backed up, and into the opposite door, which was shut as well.

He was trapped.

Bonnie's purple paw grabbed at were the top hinge used to be, and now was pulling back on the door, aiming to rip it off. The sound of wood cracking and splintering filled the air, each individual crack echoing in Gregor's ears like a count down.

No, no, no, he couldn't go out like this! Turning around Gregor fumbled with the door lock, his frantic mind more focused on the imminent threat. By the time he turned the lock Bonnie had ripped the door right off its hinges. The animatronic tossed the door against the hallway wall behind it. Flinging the unlocked door open Gregor bolted out into the hallway, heading immediately for the front doors.

That was until a slenderer looming form came into the view. Gregor came to a complete halt, staring up at the taller being. The Puppet looked down at him, each eye hole housing a small glowing pupil it wasn't supposed to have. The animatronic step towards him silently, standing somehow on a single point with an unearthly poised grace. Gregor wanted to step back down the hall he'd come from, but a padded thud reminded him of the previous threat he'd ran from. Bonnie was still after him, and the Puppet was in front of him, quickly as possible Gregor weighed his options.

There was the back exit, but Gregor didn't want to risk running into anymore animatronics. The Puppet was flimsier, thereby, should be easier to fight off. Any thoughts about how damaging an animatronic would be bad for his job were unimportant now. He was going to get out of this alive, consequences were meaningless. Hearing Bonnie lumber into the hall behind him Gregor made a mad dash to maneuver around the puppet.

A yell flung itself from his throat when the animatronic fluidly moved to in front of him, it's body far more flexible than it was supposed to be. Gregor's jaw trembled, but no noise came from it. He was shaking in fear, too scared to even whimper. The thing hung there in front of him, just staring at him with a nondescript expression. Taking a step to the side Gregor aimed to slowly move away. He flinched when the creature followed him, mirroring him exactly.

The sound of the approaching bunny urged Gregor to move quickly again. Swallowing his fear best he could, while also using it to fuel him, the night guard turned on his heel. Only to seize up again when the Puppet was immediately in front of him once more. The animatronic's long, spindly legs allowing for it to easily cut him off.

Gregor stepped back, the Puppet followed suit. Staring at him silently with glowing points. Wide smile seemingly wider in Gregor's frightened mind. The thudding of Bonnie's footsteps got louder as the animatronic neared. Gregor may not know why these things were after him, but he knew the result wouldn't be good if they caught him. Especially if the rumors were true, which at this point was far too likely for comfort. He had to get away!

Heart pounding in his ears Gregor made another attempt for the door. When the Puppet didn't appear in front of him again he thought he was in the clear. That was until he felt a strong, almost crushing grip, on his shoulders. The night guard cried in pain as Bonnie pulled him back. He could feel the animatronic's rasping breath on the back of his head and neck. Gregor didn't question why a robot was breathing, he needed to get away! His hand snatched the one thing he had on him, a piece of standard night guard equipment, his flashlight.

Gregor swung around knocking the bunny on the nose. The animatronic's snout hardly budged, barely registering to the robot. The only thing it did cause Bonnie to do was grab his wrist with a painful grip. Gregor continued struggling against the mechanical monster, pulling back, trying to break free. Fear and panic, the only things that were driving him as Bonnie began dragging him down the hall. He fought hard to regain his arm, pulling back against the hand trying to force himself to slip from the grip.

During the struggle Gregor's thumb pushed down the flashlight's power switch, thus turning the torch on. Initially, the night guard thought the beam of light would do nothing to deter the giant bunny. Until he realized the bunny was no long moving. It stared at the light as if mesmerized. Gregor recalled something from a while back when Clifton had been working on Chica.

Gregor wasted no time on trying to figure out why this caused such a reaction from the bunny. With Bonnie stalled for the moment the night guard was able to roughly pry himself free. First his shoulder then his other hand. He was going to be bruised, but that was much better than the much more gruesome option.

Soon as he was free Gregor made a rush for the front doors, no way in hell was he staying in this place for a whole night! He was no more than eight steps away from the doors when the Puppet was in front of him again. This time it no longer just stared at him, three-fingered hands grabbed at his face and throat pushing him back with surprising force. Gregor soon found himself on the ground. In a snap the Puppet was bearing down on him, white mask shadowed. The animatronic glared at him a moment before looking back to its companion.

When the purple bunny jerked its head over into its direction the Puppet looked back to Gregor. The man was not where he left him, the lanky animatronic jerked its head from side to side. Soon it spotted the night guard crawling away on all fours.

Gregor cringed as his eardrums were torn apart by a distorted screech from the Puppet. Bonnie's head snapped over to him in a manner only a machine could, right over its shoulder. Hearing a child's laugh, that no doubt came from Balloon Boy, and several more thuds, gave Gregor the motivation to scramble to his feet. Eyes focused squarely on the doors he jammed the key right into the lock. As Gregor fought with it he heard a seemingly more haunted version of Freddy's laugh that made his heart shiver with fear.

The night guard screamed, hands latching onto the door handle, as he felt the Puppet's hands grab onto him. The constant ringing noise continued pouring from the, slim black cloth covered, Puppet, that quickly caused Gregor's ears to ring. He kept his mind focused on unlocking the door, but he couldn't help but noticed Bonnie's form moving in. With its strength it'd pry him off the handles, no trouble at all.

A thankful click signaled that the lock had been undone. Fighting against the Puppet, Gregor shoved the doors open. If he could get to his car he'd be golden! To his surprise, soon as he stepped one foot out the door the Puppet released him. Out of the pizzeria, Gregor tentatively looked back at the open doorway of the building. There stood the looming figures of both Bonnie and the Puppet, staring out at him with gleaming, lifeless eyes. Behind them, Gregor could chilling pick out the eyes of the other animatronics. All of their eyes focused right on him.

They didn't seem to be planning on leaving the pizzeria, but Gregor wasn't going to risk it. Turning around the night guard hurried to his car. As he reached it, Gregor heard a subtle click. The doors to the establishment had been shut, he took that as his cue to leave.

"You're saying that the bunny did this?" Clifton questioned, as he looked at the torn up doorway. The whole left side, where the hinges had once been, looked beyond repair. They'd have to completely replace it. Only the bottom hinge still remained and only just barely. The mechanic scratched the side of his head, trying to picture the bunny slamming the door down without making it cartoonish.

"No I did this myself." Gregor snapped at the taller man. With sharp movements he motioned to the damage done. He looked back to the mechanic, while still pointing to the splintered wood. "I'll show you the security recordings if I have to! Bonnie and Puppet were trying to stuff me in a damn suit! Bonnie nearly dragged me down the hall!"

Clifton looked at the security guard in surprise, this was the first time he'd ever heard him swear. Even he muttered a damn every once in a while. It was their manager, Herald, that was the one that answered, "As much as we want to believe you, we'll need to see that reordering regardless."

Gregor nodded in understanding, he turned around and headed into the security room. Lifting up the pad he put on last night's recording. Knowing that there would be no footage of Bonnie busting into the office, he instead put it on the front entrance camera. Getting the footage to the right time, the scene of the Puppet blocking him played till Bonnie came and tried dragging him away, played. Gregor felt the bruises on his shoulder and hand act up, making him shift in place uncomfortably. He heard Clifton murmur in shock as the night guard struggled to get away on screen. The footage flooded with static for a moment, then continued on as it showed him struggling with the door. The static took over the screen again after the escape was made, and when it cleared everyone jumped in surprise.

All the animatronics were gathered at the front entrance, looking out. The static returned and then they were gone.

"Holy shit…" Clifton uttered to himself, he could hardly believe it, "Those old rumors are true…" A look of dread came over his face, complexion turning two shades whiter, his hair standing on ends. He looked at the two other guys present, "Wait, what about Springtrap? If their-"

Herald Griffith cut him off before he could finish, "That thing is sealed away. Even if it is haunted there's no chance of it getting out."

Gregor and Clifton nodded curtly. The mechanic looked at the purple clad security guard. There were dark rings around his eyes, indicating he hadn't slept well last night. He couldn't blame him with what he had gone through. Clifton knew the answer he was going to get, but common courtesy dictated he ask anyway, "Hey, you alright?"

The guard looked off before answering. "I'm fine, just some bruises."

Clifton looked at Gregor for a long while, before looking back to their boss and asking, "So, boss, what do we do about this?"

Griffith watched as the mechanic motioned to the camera display, mind racing in a hurried panic. They couldn't just disband the project. It'd cause a stir, questions would be asked. He wasn't sure how long they'd be able to dismiss them all without slipping up. If they abandoned the building, then what? Would the animatronic just stay here? What if some group of kids snuck in and got killed? Then there was all the money he put into this…and all the people he'd have to lay off. His reputation would go down, everything would go wrong! No, no, there had to be something that could be done.

"The past restaurants had to have had some method of dealing with this." Herald said quickly, nodding to his own words as self-reassurance. He looked to Gregor hopefully. "Do you know anything about that?"

It took Gregor a moment to realize he'd been spoken to, he nodded limply, eyes tired. "Yeah, in fact I think we found some old tapes from one of the old restaurants. I'll look around for more." He rubbed the side of his head in an attempt to keep himself awake, he could still picture the Puppet's piercing eyes. "I'll need to think of a way to get the taps onto a digital format. If they have anything useful on them."

Huffing dully, Gregor pushed back from the desk, crossing his arms. "Either way, I'm not doing another night shift."

This declaration took Herald by surprise, leaving him shocked. "What! If you won't then who will?"

"Why don't we bring in that Isaac Vargas guy?" Gregor suggested. "He's obviously dealt with something like this before."

"Absolutely not!" Herald Griffith outright objected. "He'll burn the place to the ground on his first night…" He stopped a moment, recalling the man's exit after they chose to ignore his warning. "That and he said he was done working for this franchise..." His voice trailed off, the moment leaving a weighted feeling in his gut now.

Clifton couldn't believe what he was witnessing, his tone was quiet with disbelief. "Are you two seriously considering bringing some other person to watch those things at night?" He looked to Herald then to Gregor, "After you saw, and you know firsthand, how dangerous the animatronics are! They were out to kill you Gregor!"

"And we'll make sure they're properly prepared." Gregor pointed out. "We're not going to just toss them in there unaware."

"That doesn't mean they'll make it through the night! It wasn't even one am when those things nearly got you!" Clifton protested, abhorred by the security guard's almost flippant response. Just yesterday he wanted to be build a sense of family with the other guards, now he seemingly didn't care about their very lives.

Gregor gave Clifton a look, "We'll do everything we can Clifton." He motioned to the doors, "For one get sturdier doors." He tilted his head to look to the manager, "We can do that right boss?"

"Of course." Herald Griffith answered with a nod, he looked at Clifton reassuringly. "Every job has its dangers Schwartz. We'll do everything we can to ensure their safety. I assure you of that." He patted the taller man on the back a few times. "Everything will be fine you'll see."

Griffith looked at his employee with a certain sternness, "Just don't go do anything rash now…we're all in this together. Remember that."

Clifton felt himself seize up at the words and tone of his boss. The tone was calm, collected, and one of warning. His words matched this, seeming reassuring, but clearly saying that they were all in on the crime. He'd helped them hide the body, he'd let them seal the carcass away. He was just as guilty as they were.

Clifton Schwartz stood there a moment just looking at the men, hands rolled into tight shaking fists. As much as he wanted to just march out the front door, he couldn't. He couldn't put his family through the endeavor of their name being marred by such a crime. Especially since it involved Freddy's. In Hurricane they'd be ruined and have to move. Something they couldn't afford currently, they were still knee deep in his college debt.

So instead, he gave a forced nod, words blunt, "I won't, boss." Not wanting to be with either man any longer, Clifton turned to leave, saying, "I'm going to check the animatronics. Just to be sure."

In reality, he just wanted to go to his safe haven, his repair room. There he could be left alone to think, and hopefully figure out a way to make the animatronics safer for the future night shift.

Gregor watched Clifton leave in an absolute huff, there went that possible friendship. He steeled himself inside, and shoved the feeling off, they all came and went anyway. This meant too much to him for him to let go. It was more important than something as temporary as a friend. Clifton would get over it, probably, anyway. Freddy's was the one place he'd ever felt happy inside. He couldn't let it go down again.

Gregor looked to his boss, "I'll get to researching soon as I can."

"Start looking into it now. We're not open right now anyway." Herald instructed, Gregor nodded and headed out the door. Before the man left the premises his boss called out, "And try to get some rest. You look horrible."

There was an odd note of understanding in his voice. Gregor looked back saw that he wasn't the only one with bags under his eyes. Herald looked just as tired, maybe more so. Gregor gave a slow, and subtle, nod before he left through the front doors.

Author's Note: First night shift of the story! The music box wasn't found at all so the Puppet got to get up right away. Of course I can't have the night guard's get one shot. So instead, the Puppet is more so the ringleader or boss, giving the animatronic's more direction, as well as being fast and agile.

Hope this chapter made it clear that Gregor isn't a very good person. :T

Also that's the last of the pre-written chapters. From here on I'll do what I can to keep the chapters regular, and at least 10 pages long.

Hope you enjoyed, please leave input and stick around for the next chapter.