They weren't alone here.
For a moment, when Elizabeth saw Charlie apprehending those looters and getting all of them into a corner, she thought that perhaps this would be the worst she'd have to see that night, and yet, she had never been more wrong. When she heard those sounds and steps, Elizabeth felt her blood freezing in her veins as she immediately identified those sounds as something different, as something not human and mortifying, getting closer to them with each second. Charlie and the looters heard it, too, as all of them looked at the roof opening above them, overtaken by their dread.
Something was standing atop the roof. A large silhouette shrouded in darkness, far too distinct to be human, and for some reason, even looking at it immediately made Elizabeth want to turn away as she could barely contain her utter disgust. And then a crimson glow emerged in its eyes…
"AAAAAAAAAH, RUUUN!" One of the looters screeched and ran towards the gate the moment he saw the monster above them. This must have been the stalker Elizabeth and Charlie saw on those recordings, the beast that hunted people down and took them somewhere from where they never returned. Elizabeth still stood there in shock, even after the stalker disappeared into the shadows once again, leaving the rest trying to come to their senses. "AAAAAARGHH! PLEASE, NO….AAAAAAA!" They heard the escaped looter's screams from the outside. The sound of crunching bones echoed in Elizabeth's ears like that of a rusty screw, as did the splash of blood on the walls. Then, the heavy steps re-emerged as the stalker came closer to the door, cutting off their only escape route. Elizabeth could feel herself shaking; she desperately wanted to look away, yet her instincts and curiosity ended up being stronger.
"God, have mercy, god have mercy, have…" Another looter began to pray in a broken, mortified voice.
"What are you doing, idiot? Hide!" The third one beckoned as quietly as possible, but his friend seemed to be consumed by a trance that did not allow him to move or even listen. Eventually, the calmer looters must have realized that there was no way of getting his friend out of this, and after hearing the sound of claws scratching the wall and getting closer to the door, he decided to hide. Elizabeth knew that she should've done the same, yet she felt as if the ground beneath her was covered in a most powerful glue that now forced her legs to remain in one place without movement. That was until she heard Charlie rushing towards her and pushing her to the side. Now, both of them were amidst animatronic parts and darkness, her completely surrendering to his grasp.
"C…Charlie…"
"Stay quiet, we can't let it see us."
Moments later, it was inside. A shadowy silhouette that stomped into the darkness, making it immensely more terrifying. Elizabeth saw drops of what could only be blood falling off from the stalker's hands, hands with long and sharp claws on them. Soon, the beast stood in front of the praying man, making the looter look up and stare into the monster's face. Into this crimson glow…By this point, the looter's eyes were swelling with tears.
"Please…I won't tell anybody…PLEASE!"
The beast pierced his chest with its bare hands and ripped his body in two halves like an old sheet of paper, creating a puddle of disgusting blood underneath. It took time for Elizabeth's mind to process the horror of their situation, yet now it finally clicked.
"C-Charlie, Charlie, I…" She whispered as she shook uncontrollably and clung to the detective.
"Shh, I…"
"Help, please…P-please…" She couldn't help herself until Charlie offered Elizabeth a tight hug, making her feel a little safer for a moment and bringing a pause to the shaking.
"Okay, listen closely. I will go to the other side of this place and lure that freak there…You stay here, and when he's gone far enough, run. Understand?" He said in a soothing yet firm voice.
"B-but…What about you?"
"I'll escape, don't worry about me. Just do as I say, and we'll both…We'll be fine." She heard the trembling in his voice, and for the first time, she saw actual terror in Charlie's eyes. He wasn't certain this plan would work; no one could be certain, but they had to try. "Okay?"
"O-okay…"
Without further words, Charlie let Elizabeth go, making the woman shiver one more time as she realized that she was left alone with nothing but cold animatronic limbs touching her. When Charlie disappeared in the darkness, Elizabeth moved closer to the wall, trying to find a safe place. There was an endoskeleton nearby. It could serve as a good hiding place. The moment Elizabeth grabbed one of its metal hands. However, she heard another piercing scream from the entrance's side.
"AAAARGH, AAAARGH!" The last looter screeched as the stalker forced him out of his hiding place, twisting and breaking his hand, only making this ordeal more agonizing. He stopped those screams by snapping the looter's neck and forcing him to drown in his own blood. When the man was dead, the beast made its way further into the warehouse, carefully surveying everything around it. Every part and every corner, all those metal parts…It was only a matter of time before it would find Charlie or Elizabeth. The woman heard a loud, inhuman grunt coming from the beast, as if it let it out in annoyance. Was this an actual emotion the beast was displaying? Could it have them at all?
But this wasn't the end of it. Soon, the stalker let out another sound; this time, it was a prolonged, horrifying laugh. A low-pitch cackle that sounded like something straight from the darkest pits of Hell. Was it the stalker's natural behavior or some attempt to lure them out? So many thoughts ran through Elizabeth's mind that they turned into a chaotic mess of thoughts and emotions. At some point, it became too much to bear as Elizabeth felt herself beginning to cry and shiver once again.
She saw the crimson glow emerge again, and this time, it unveiled some of the stalker's features. It had two eyes, both glowing, and only one of them had a small dark pupil at its core. As for its body, now there was no doubt that this was an animatronic. Its head reminded her of an animal. It had a black nose and ears and a large head that made the images of Freddy and Bonnie spring into her mind. It had a cylinder hat on its head, its metal teeth were as sharp as its claws…And worst of all, its stomach had another grotesque layer of teeth in it, making Elizabeth think of the picture Chris drew when he needed to display Kitty's claw. For a moment, Elizabeth even tried to deny this creature's presence; it simply couldn't be real. It was too demonic, too tainted to make her believe in its reality, but every echoing step left her no choice but to think otherwise. It was close; Elizabeth could already imagine this creature tearing the endoskeleton apart and unveiling her hiding place, but before it could happen, the shots were fired and pierced Elizabeth's ears.
No doubt Charlie's attempt at distraction, as the bullets hit the wall, the stalker immediately turned towards the source of this sound, increasing the pace of its steps. This was the only opportunity Elizabeth would have, and no matter how terrified she was, she had to run. She carefully pushed the endoskeleton aside and ran towards the only source of pale moonlight before her. She got closer to her freedom until she stopped on one of the animatronic parts. The sound of her fall wasn't too loud but enough for the stalker to notice. The monster immediately turned around, and Elizabeth felt the crimson lights upon her. She knew she needed to run, but looking into the eyes of this unhinged beast made her freeze in a single spot at his mercy. For some reason, when the beast laid its eyes on her, it hesitated. His pupil grew wider as his mechanical eyes examined Elizabeth closely, following it with another strain of mechanical laughter. It was too late to run.
"HEY!" Charlie shouted from behind, making the monster turn around. "COME AT ME, YOU FUCKING FREAK!" He shot a few times; at least two of the bullets hit the stalker's carcass, but this did not do anything to him. The animatronic remained unmoved on his two feet, not even slightly shaken down. "RUN, LIZ!"
The stalker hesitated. It was caught between the two of them without doing much. He examined the two of them carefully and with much more interest than any of the looters it killed. Was it just picking its next victim?
Before it made its next move, Elizabeth heard a distant sound of sirens that got closer with every single moment; there were cars approaching…For some reason, this made the stalker stand back and relax. After it let out one more distorted laugh, the monster clawed onto the nearby wall and began climbing towards the opening of the roof. Charlie attempted to shoot it down, but the beast had gone too far. Soon, it simply disappeared as quickly as it emerged, leaving Charlie standing as he held his gun with two shaking hands and Elizabeth on her knees not feeling her legs at at all. When the light of police cars shone outside, the woman already began sobbing as she covered her face. An armed squad of policemen barged in and scoured the area, making sure that nothing dangerous remained. They were led by a very gruff-looking man.
"Mr. Owens?" Charlie said in disbelief as he finally put down his weapon.
"I've warned you not to get into another mess, lad…Come with us, both of you. You've got a lot to explain."
…
William believed he was prepared for anything. He devised a perfect plan that would allow him to reach the night guard in no time and finally decimate this cursed system that held him back. This night, he got much closer than during previous ones. Victory was within his reach. But just when he stared into the guard's eyes, another animatronic appeared.
"F-father…" A distorted and robotic yet still somehow familiar voice rang out from its dynamics, making both William and the night guard look at him with shock. It was the same endoskeleton that the crew salvaged along with him, but this time it talked. William heard this voice once again. It was when 'Ennard' got inside the restaurant wearing Mike's skin and tore it off in front of the visitors, the same mixture of a child and a monster's voice that made William shiver in fear back then was recreated perfectly, making the illusions of this gruesome moment flash before William's eyes. First, Chris, then Mike, and his children got taken away from him one after another.
However, William had no choice but to be immediately knocked back into his senses the moment he saw the animatronic brutalize the night guard, staining the space around him with blood. By the time he turned towards William, he reflexively stepped back. There was much he wanted to say, yet his broken voice box didn't allow that; William remained silent and shocked as the creature approached.
"Don't be scared, dad…He was one of them." The animatronic spoke. "One of those who hurt me…He deserved it."
Dad? Hurt him? All pointed to a single conclusion, yet William refused to accept it. It shouldn't have been possible.
"It's me, Chris…And you're my dad, right?" He spoke in a calm voice. "You can't talk, can you? Can you nod if you are my dad?"
William had nothing left to do but nod as he finally accepted the undeniable truth.
"Good!" Chris said in an upbeat voice, although he still maintained his distance. "I knew you wouldn't just kill yourself, dad…You don't like giving up! I wanted to ask, but you can't talk…Maybe I can help you? Those things can make us sound like we did before dying, you know that?"
William nodded again and pointed at his neck. His own fingers were too big with a carcass covering them, but the same couldn't be said for Chris.
"Ah, they never fixed that one, I guess…I've seen some of that they've done with an older speaker; they said you had a similar one. Can you point me to what I should fix?"
William nodded once again, and soon both began their work. There were far too many questions on the engineer's mind, but he had to focus on giving Chris directions and something to work on very carefully. It went quite well; however, William made Funtime endoskeletons to be especially versatile, and it showed Chris's movements were hardly robotic. When William saw the voice box, he tried his best to show what to fix Chris, and eventually, they finally succeeded. William couldn't feel anything anymore, but he could hear the sound of a spark that emerged once Chris put the voice box in its place, connecting it to the suit.
"I…I…" Will tested it out. The echo that came out was reminiscent of his original voice, even if distorted. Those modules could do wonders when they were infused with viridium, including channeling the voice of his soul.
"Hooray!" Chris let out a cheery and wondrous voice as he saw his father finally able to speak again.
"C…Chris…It's me, can you…Hear me?"
"I can, dad."
"God…" William recoiled at the realization that those were the first words he had let out ever since he got trapped in this suit. "Chris…" He reached out, for a moment, seeing a shade of his sound beneath the metal surface, but Chris himself wasn't so willing.
"You always told me it's wrong to lie…But you lied to everyone when you said you died. Even Lizzy."
"No, not to her. I didn't want anyone else to know, though…"
"Well, now I know. You've come all this way for what?"
"To destroy Alison's last attempt at establishing his business. If only you knew what that monster did…"
"Oh, I know. The underground factory, right?" He said calmly, inducing even more shock in William.
"You are Ennard, right? I saw them taking you away for repairs…You called out to me back in the restaurant, remember? Were you Ennard all this time?"
"Yes, but it wasn't me that called out to you that time."
"But…"
"I'm sure you have questions, just like I do, but maybe we should leave first? Someone might come in and see…That." Chris looked at the night guard's body and his still-warm blood.
"No, wait, we can't just leave!"
"Why?"
"This place is an abomination, some freak show they made to earn more money for Alison! He mocks everything we've been through…"
"What do you want to do?"
"When I came back to the restaurant for the last time, I wanted to burn it down, even though I never got to. I want to finish what I've started." Afton spoke with determination and clenched his fist. "I am not sure how, but we can't leave this place unattended. I used the ventilation system; I wonder if I might break some of the pipes there. It will be easier…"
"I saw a gasoline canister outside."
"Then will you help me?"
Chris nodded before moving towards the window; there was no time to waste. One after another, the ventilation pipes were broken by William, as well as some batteries. Gas leaks would set the perfect stage for a fire that is strong enough to burn this horrid place to the ground. Chris brought in the gas canister and prepared the place. They decided not to distract each other with pointless words until they escaped. No need to waste any more time. When William searched the guard's office, however, he noticed a small calendar on the wall…
October 2002.
Twelve years…William felt his robotic hands shake at the realization. His little girl has become a grown woman by now, had a life and job, friends, maybe even family…And he would find her all the same, no matter the cost. When the gasoline was finally ready, William gave a single spark.
Today, Fazbear Fright burned.