Some Things Are Better Left Buried

By: Miss-DNL

Chapter 6: Night Two

Cole Henderson sat down into the black rolling chair, leaning back a bit as he glanced around the security office room. He gave a nervous tug to his new purple uniform as he recalled the day he'd received it. He'd received the call that he'd gotten the position later on same day as his interview. It'd left him ecstatic! Cole had been worried his lack of experience would've gotten him declined. He was relieved that wasn't the case.

A couple days later he dropped by the pizzeria to pick up his uniform. There he'd found out there was another guard, Kyle Hudson. He and her would be alternating days, he'd have Monday, she'd have Tuesday. Sunday would switch between them every week, she had more experience being a guard so she got Sunday this week.

The nineteen-year-old looked around the office, even though he'd wanted the job badly Cole couldn't deny he was nervous. He'd never been left in charge of guarding a place by himself, or at night at that. Well, he'd looked after his younger brothers when his parent's went out while he still lived with them. It hardly counted though, he and his brothers just wasted the time playing video games. Now he was by himself, in a mostly darkened building, one he was hardly familiar with.

Cole shook his head, taking a breath to calm himself. Get familiar with things, it'll help, he told himself.

Cole picked up the camera control tablet, it was pretty neat he supposed. He clicked through the cameras, looking for the animatronics. If he was supposed to guard them, then learning where they were would be important. Finding the main three was simple, Bonnie, Chica and Freddy were in the biggest room after all. Balloon Boy and the Puppet were in an alcove, the prize corner, in the right hall. Foxy was in an alcove, aptly named Pirate Cove, to the left. Out of the bunch Cole felt Foxy was his favorite, if only because he was a fox. Mangle was in the play room, a medium-sized room just below the Prize corner.

On the day he'd dropped by for his uniform, along with his badge and name tag, Gregor had given him and Kyle a walkthrough of the pizzeria. This included being introduced to the animatronics they'd be looking after. Gregor explained that the Mangle was actually Fun Time Foxy, but was referred to as Mangle because the animatronic was always torn apart in the second pizzeria. They'd adjusted the animatronic's parts a bit to be better suited but the name Mangle had stuck. For the public though Mangle was called Fun Time for short, and to avoid confusion with Foxy.

Currently Mangle was in one piece, standing upright on her stage. Unlike Foxy, Mangle had a parrot on the left shoulder. The small animatronic bird was of course actually attached to the main animatronic.

Cole had just changed to one of the hall cameras when the desk phone suddenly went off. Despite himself the young man jumped in surprise. Quickly realizing what it was he looked to the phone. It was a recording, timed to go off at twelve am. Remembering that Gregor said he'd leave training recordings Cole reached over and pressed the play button.

"Hello, hello, welcome to your first night at working at Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria." As the recording continued Cole relaxed in his chair, focusing on what was being said. Cole arched a brow as Gregor's tone shifted oddly, "Alright, the animatronics. They...have a night mode. They move around at night. It's just something to keep their joints loose. They'll wander around, and probably head over to you. This wouldn't be an issue…but, due to a glitch in programming that's carried through all the models-they'll think you're an endoskeleton. No one knows why this is, but it is. Something to do with coding, I'm no programmer. Point being, it's not very safe to let them near you."

Upon hearing this Gregor's hairs stood up on the back of his neck. What in the world was he hearing? Wasn't his job supposed to be to guard the animatronics? Not protect himself from them!

"I know what you're thinking, but listen. We've taken precautions to keep you safe. That's what this recording is for. Listen, stay calm, and you'll be fine."

Cole shook his head, this is insane, he thought, I'm just a college student!

Hearing the sound of padded footsteps Cole froze in his chair. Quickly he snatched up the camera tablet and flicked to the main stage. Bonnie was missing from the stage. Frantically he flipped through the cameras trying to find the large bunny. To his relief Bonnie had somehow made its way into the parts and services, the mechanic's, room. Cole's relief died when he realized he didn't know how to deal with the bunny if it got too close.

Recalling the recording he leaned forward on the desk, urging the call to go faster, "Come on, get to what to do!"

"The doors on your left and right are heavy, steel, magnetic doors. Once they slam down nothing should be able to get through. You'll also notice the vent, Mangle is the one to namely use that but occasionally the others will too…Toggle the camera view and it'll show you the vent. On the vent screen you'll be able to seal that vent off. Be careful of having the vent and the doors closed. Going too long without air flowing in there could make you see things."

In a snap Cole shut both of the doors, the heavy doors falling with loud simultaneous slams. Then he toggled to the vent cam screen, and it showed the middle of the vent that lead to the security office. He gave a faint sigh of relief when he saw nothing was inside it.

"There's also the flashlight. All of the animatronics have a restart glitch that's caused by sudden bright flashes. If one does get too close use the Freddy head in the corner of the office. You'll want to move that to the desk or somewhere within reach. They'll think you're an animatronic if you're wearing the mask."

Grabbing the big heavy Freddy head Cole dropped it down onto the desk with a hallow thud. With a bit of a searching the college student found the flashlight in the bottom drawer, and put it on the desk next to the empty costume head.

"Now we're just starting out, we had a good opening day today, but we still need to spend money wisely. Building the animatronics was still pretty costly even if we did basically get them for half off. So, there's a power budget at night. After so long the power has been set to cut off. Don't worry it's still pretty high, plenty to get through the night. Those doors do spend a lot of energy, so does the vent, so keep that in mind. The cameras and lights do too, but the ones we got are pretty energy efficient, not top of the line but still good.

It's Monday so they won't be too bad tonight, but try and stay in the room. It's safest here obviously, and the front doors will be locked till dawn. We don't want them…wandering out. That's your job, to watch them. Make sure they don't do anything to get out, or if someone gets in keep the animatronics from getting them. Our image is bad enough already. We had someone people come in wanting to see the boss, relatives of one of the guards."

One of the guards that got killed! Cole thought to himself frantically.

The fact he was locked in with the killer robots made his heart go cold. He looked back to the control pad, worriedly he looked at the power. He'd only chewed through two percent, but the doors were causing it to drop, as showed by the power use meter. He bit his lower lip, mind weighing whether or not it would be alright to raise the doors. Quickly he checked the main stage, Freddy and Chica were both still there. He checked back in the mechanic's room, Bonnie was gone. Cole's heart beat picked up again and he searched around for the bunny, finding it in the main party room. The college boy felt a chill go through him when the guitarist animatronic was staring right at the camera, jaw hung open showing all of its blunt teeth.

Cole perked when he realized Gregor was still talking, he hoped he didn't miss anything important. "Mangle Balloon Boy won't be moving tonight. Freddy shouldn't either…but keep an eye on him, not really sure how he works. Other than that, keep the music box at the prize corner wound. The Puppet is probably the most dangerous of the bunch…That's it for now, I'll keep you updated if we find anything. Just keep an eye on things, keep calm, and things should be fine. Just to let you know we're not responsible to any injure to person, or death of person."

Cole stared at the phone as Gregor wrapped up his message, he couldn't be hearing this right.

"Once everything is cleaned up we will file a missing person's report should death occur. So, stay alert, watch the cameras and the power, and I'll see you next time."

The recording ended with the clunk of the phone being hung up. Cole sat staring at the phone like it was a foreign object he'd never even heard of before. This was insane, this whole situation was insane! How could Gregor just talk about this like it was no big deal? He was locking him in here with killer robots that could probably bite his damn head off! Cole looked worriedly to the time on the control tablet, it hadn't even been ten minutes! He swallowed, giving a shaky breath, gripping the control pad for comfort. He could get through this, he'd just keep the doors down as long as he could. Then maybe wear the Freddy head the rest of the way, and check the vent every so often. Yeah, that's what'd he'd do then he'd be fine.

He couldn't just keep the doors down. It was just barely one am and the doors had eaten through over ten percent of his power. Reluctantly he pulled up the doors, and almost breathed a sigh of relief when the power drain slowed to hardly a crawl. He inhaled shakily, his hands shivering from restrained fear. If he was going to check the cameras and use the lights he needed some power to spare. The lights for outside his door he found under the door buttons, the cameras had lights too. If the flash light stalled them, then then surely those would too.

Tentatively Cole flicked through the cameras again. He jumped in his seat when he saw that Freddy was looking right at the camera, what was startling wasn't just that. He bear's animatronic eyes seemed to have vanished, and were replaced by a blackness housing a small orb of light. The bear knew he was watching, Cole could feel it and it chilled him, but he couldn't break the bear's gaze.

Cole let out a startled yelp when his vision was suddenly assaulted by flashes of images. They were so quick that he could barely make out what was shown, but it seemed to have been a hallow eyed bear. In his mind though he heard garble, metallic voice repeating, "It's me" over and over. The sound of static was clawing at the insides of his mind like nails on a chalkboard, it was all he could hear! Then it just stopped, leaving the young man's mind muddled and confused.

Breathing quick, Cole pried his hands from the camera pad. His hands had a death grip on it as a result of the vision. Cole held his head trying to calm himself, to steady his breath. He shook his head trying focus himself. Cole stared at the camera view, Freddy was looking forward again. Softly he asked aloud, "What was that?"

Hearing shifting in the background outside the office Cole quickly dismissed the incident, picking up the control pad again. He flicked around finding Bonnie in one of the party rooms. Chica was in the kitchen, he'd found her moving around a while after Gregor's recording finished. He was fine with both of them being where they were and went to wind the music box again.

Sitting in the chair Cole began to think. Wondering if this job would be worth it. It was terrifying, that was for certain, but it wasn't too bad so far. Long as he didn't slack off, kept on his toes, he'd be able to manage. The animatronics weren't exactly hard to hear coming with their heavy footsteps. He looked at the camera tablet, thinking to himself, Maybe I'll give it a week…see how the later days are, then decide…

Cole just needed this job to pay for fundamentals, food, bills, clothing. Everything that needed to be paid. His pail grants paid for his classes and books, but that was all. He'd just moved out of his parent's home. Cole had needed some space from his much younger siblings, both far too hyper and noisy for his nerves. After high school he'd spent a year personal break from school, just to unwind before going to college.

During that year Cole learned he was ready to be out on his own. His mother still mothering him had helped him learn that. Cole of course loved his Mom, but he could take care of himself now. It hadn't been easy but he'd broken the news. His father, who'd been badgering about him moving out, had him moved out by the end of the week. Now he lived in a small apartment, cheap but rent still needed to be paid.

Now he had to live up to his words and manage on his own. The question now was if dealing with killer robots, risking his life each night he came here, worth it?

Realizing he hadn't checked on Foxy in a while he picked back up the tablet. Changing to the Pirate Cove camera Cole stared, the curtain was drawn back showing an empty stage. This realization was followed by hurried animatronic footsteps coming down the hall to his left. Without thinking Cole bolted his arm out and slammed his hand down on the door button. No sooner than he did there was an ear splitting screech followed by furious banging on the door. A scrapping noise of something sharp being dragged down the metal door caused Cole to cringe at the noise, and shrink back into his chair. The college boy covered his eyes, praying the thing pounding at the door would stop soon.

When the banging finally did stop Cole carefully looked up from behind his hands. He wished he hadn't when he saw burning yellow eyes, glaring from behind the left office window. Foxy the pirate looked far more menacing than Cole last recalled.

Getting the feeling the animatronic wasn't going to leave on its own, Cole tentatively reached his arm out, and jabbed the light button. The light buzzed to life, lighting up the area by the window briefly. The hostility from the animatronic vanished with the flash of the light. Now it just stared at the man in the office blankly. A moment later the fox pirate turned and made its way back down the hall. Using the tablet Cole followed the animatronic and saw that it had returned back to its stage. Now it stood there like a statue, as it should.

Cole slumped down in the chair, a shaky whine of a sigh leaving his mouth. There was no way he could keep this job. This was just too much. College was going to be hard enough on his mind, but this? Risking his life every other night?

The brunette ran a hand clumsily over his head, fingers running along the cap instead of his thick hair. He closed his eyes, trying to force calm over himself. Cole lifted up the tablet again, checking the time. He groaned seeing it was barely two thirty, still over three hours left of his shift. Aimlessly tapping the power meter Cole thought to himself, At least I'm good on power…

The teen frowned, he was going to have to quit this job. The question was when? Cole's frown deepened as he made a hesitant decision in his mind, soon as I get another job. Doesn't matter what. Then I'll drop this one.

Hours passed of Cole fretfully sitting in the black rolling chair, biting into his bottom lip out of stressed habit. Finally, six am was just around the corner, it currently being five fifty-seven. The last few hours hadn't been exactly peachy for Cole. He didn't understand how Foxy worked. Cole had managed to thankfully cut him off each time before he could charge in, but the pounding on the door drained even more power! Safe to say that the fox had lost his spot as Cole's favorite, then again he didn't like any of them now.

Sitting hunched over the camera pad Cole was uttering a repetition of "Come on" to himself, as if doing so would will time to go by faster.

The mantra only ended when Cole realized that there were footsteps heading down the right hall, and they were near. Already in a cold sweat the young man turned his head towards the sound of pained, rasping breaths. The yellow bibbed chicken, Chica, was already through the doorway. The cupcake on her platter was chattering, almost seeming even more eager than the chicken to get a bite out of him.

To prove this, without warning, the animatronic cupcake leapt off the plate. Cole let out a shriek as the tiny robot bit down into his arm. There was no resounding crunch but that didn't make the pain any less. A rip sounded as Cole roughly yanked the cupcake bot off his arm and tossed it onto the ground. The little monster was surprisingly tenacious and hopped right back up at him.

Wanting no more bite marks to commemorate his first night on the job Cole punted the cretin away. The animatronic let out a grating shriek as it was sent backwards, colliding into the wall with a crack. This time it stayed down.

Briefly Cole was thankful for the short time he played soccer in high school. The reprieve was cut short when Chica made a surprisingly fast move for him. The yellow animatronic grabbing hold of him with both hands, squeezing his shoulders with an iron clad grip. Immediately Cole began pleading that the thing let him go, all the while struggling to pull himself away. The robot's response was to bore its violet unblinking eyes at him, the weak rasping breaths still pouring out of its beak.

Preparing for the worst Cole clenched his eyes closed as hard as possible. If the end was coming, he didn't want to see it. He was left confused when nothing happened after a few agonizing moments of waiting. Blue eye still closed he furrowed his brows in apprehensive confusion, wasn't the thing supposed to drag him off or bite him?

Slowly and carefully he opened his eyes. Chica was still there, standing over him, but something was different. The malice and dangerous air the animatronic had given off was gone. Calmer, albeit still wary, Cole noticed that the grip on his shoulders had lessened, and the breathing was gone as well.

Cautiously Cole slipped out from Chica's slackened hold and picked up the tablet, his eyes not once leaving the chicken. Once he was a few steps away from the robot Cole dared to look down onto the screen. It was six am. A sigh of complete relief wafted from the college student's mouth, that explained it. The robot's night mode had deactivated just in time.

Needing a moment to calm down Cole slumped back into the desk chair. He moved to put hand on his forehead, but winced when it was connected to the arm that the cupcake had bitten. Wanting to check the damage he looked down at his arm. The bite had just broken the skin, most likely when he yanked it off. It wasn't much, just bits of blood seeping out, the indents the tiny bot had left were more noticeable.

Once he was calm enough Cole pulled himself from the chair and headed for the entrance. No way would he'd be able to move Chica out of the security office. The dayshift would just have to move it. He had a lot to think about before he went to sleep tonight. He'd also needed to find a way to fix the tear in his uniform, whether he was going to come back or not. Either way he was certain he was going to have that animatronic in his nightmare tonight.

Author's Note: A simple night this time, Cole got lucky he got Monday. Animatronics are slugging on the first night of the week, and he still cut it close...

I always wondered why Mangle had an extra head. Where the hell did the kids get that if it wasn't part of the bot? The parrot was my attempt to explain that. Considering fun time foxy was a more kid friendly version of Foxy who was a pirate. Fun Time still sort of kept the pirate theme with parrot. I've seen some people make it a puppet but I felt the parts would be much smaller for that, the head attached looked pretty sizeable. This is my own AU story so I went with it, tell me what you think.

Death is coming pretty soon, hold on guys~

Guest Review Responses:

Bar: That really doesn't make up for it, especially counting in the fact he lies about the job to their faces. If he said straight up then yes it'd count, but he doesn't.

Mia: I'm happy you like the story! But sorry, you bet wrong. Neither shadow animatronic will be appearing in this story.

Guest: No none of the nightmare animatronics will be appearing in the later chapters. Wouldn't make sense for them to considering they were nightmares of the child from the fourth game. If any "nightmare" animatronics do appear they'll be tailored to fit whoever is having said nightmare. I'll take this time to say that no other animatronics will be appearing in this story. Least not that I have planned thus far, things may change who knows.

Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed and stick around for more! And please leave some input, it's always appreciated.