Mable: I think one look at the word count should explain why this chapter took so long. XD Still sorry it did take so long, but at least it has the girth to make up for the wait. Anyhoo, enjoy!

The Butcher's Traps

Chapter 12: Butchered

John summed up the Campside Retreat well: a derelict building barely standing outside of the city of Hurricane. It might've been nice once, but the overgrown grass and the faded gravel path leading up to it suggested that it had been years since it received real maintenance, let alone visitors. Charlie watched it creep up from the passenger seat of Clay's car and felt her anxiety grow. She forcibly swallowed it down.

The road drove partially around the building and then past it and further off into the wilderness, probably leading to the supposed campsite nearby. Most of the police cars were parked around the last turn into the overgrown parking area, partially obscured by overgrowth and rocks that might've once been decorative. A surveillance van was parked a little closer to the building and Clay pulled up behind it.

Charlie started to unbuckle her seatbelt when a stun gun was offered to her by Clay. He had already offered her a radio before they left the house, so she wasn't surprised that he was trying to give her more. She reached down and unhook her fixed taser off of her jeans and showed it to him. "I'm good."

"This would give you distance. You should take it just in case," Clay continued to nudge.

"I didn't think I was supposed to face them head on," Charlie said with a quirked brow. His mouth twitched, but he didn't waver, and she gave in and took the stun gun. "I've never even shot a gun before."

"It's not that complicated. You just squeeze this and it deploys the barbs," Clay explained, pointing the trigger out to her. "Just be careful. There's no safety on this and reloading it will take longer than you have. If you get backed into a corner, fire the stun gun, and then run the second you get an opening to. Try to aim for the head."

"Exposed endoskeleton works too," Charlie said. Trying to remind him discreetly that she knew what she was doing, though she did appreciate his concern. "I think I've got it."

"You want this too?" Mike asked from the backseat. Charlie's arm was nudged by the end of a wooden handle. Even though she repaired both tasers- or she thought she did, as they hadn't tested them yet- Mike had decided to drive off before they left the house and came back with a newly bought axe. Clay's look expressed silent doubt and a lack of enthusiasm in Mike having the weapon.

"Thanks, but I think it'll just slow me down. You keep it and if something tries to rush the car, you just lean out the window and start swinging," Charlie lightly joked. He nodded and leaned back against the backseat as the two got out of the car and started walking across the gravel section of parking lot.

Charlie noticed a post jutting out of the ground and the sign it used to hold lying underneath it. Faded with age and growing lichen, the words were completely illegible. She could only hope that the wood holding up the building was in better condition as she raised her eyes to the abandoned building that would be her shelter.

Further back down the road, parked on the curve wrapping around the building and thus having a perfect shot across the scraggly field and of said building, was a car not intended to be there. Charlie's car, in fact, with John in the driver's seat and Jessica and Lamar in the passenger's seat and back respectively. Carlton had decided not to come due to his injury and his father's strict warning, and Marla stayed with him so they could wait it out together.

"There she is," Jessica alerted, even though the other two could clearly see the two people walking towards the front doors. John nodded and discreetly popped the trunk.

They could hear movement as something climbed out, but none of them looked back, just as Charlie had instructed. It fell silent again shortly after.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Jessica said. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat and dug her nails into her sleeve jacket, clearly nervous.

"Setting Sammy lose on the public or-?" John asked without taking his eyes off Clay and Charlie.

"This whole thing. How is she supposed to be safe in there? And what good are the cops going to do if they're parked this far away?" Jessica sighed. "I don't know, I just feel like everything's going to go wrong."

"That's why we're here," John said determinedly.

"But what good are we anyway? All we have is a baseball bat and a tire iron- neither of which are going to do anything to these giant robots- and we're no better off getting to her in time if something goes south."

"Give the police a little more credit. If they went through with getting a surveillance van out here, which I'm guessing that's what that van over there is, then they probably have their bases covered," Lamar said. John and Jessica seemed much less confident but agreed with their silence.

Stepping into the building was like stepping into a stuffy attic. It smelled like it hadn't been ventilated in years even though Charlie knew the police must've been in and out over the last few hours. The evidence was mounted on the wall, she realized as she spotted a mounted security camera. It was clearly connected to the van outside.

Just seeing it took a bit of the edge off. They would be watching everything, she reminded herself, and aside from possibly seeing Sammy that was a good thing. She silently followed Clay to the stairs.

The stairs let out into a hallway that Clay barely stepped into before taking a sharp left and stepping into one of the bedrooms. The room was mostly devoid of furniture, save for a wooden bed with an old sheetless mattress, a dresser without any drawers, and a folding chair that must've been brought in to give her somewhere to sit.

"Double check that your radio's on," Clay instructed. Charlie knew it was, but did as suggested. Once satisfied with this, Clay began to explain further. "We've posted cameras both inside and outside the building, so we'll have an eye on the area. We have one in here too, so we'll be able to see you the entire time." He pointed to a camera above the door to assure her and she nodded.

"All I need you to do is stay in this room as long as you can. We're going to try and deal with the animatronics before they make it inside, but if they do then it's still possible that they might not be able to get up the stairs. If they do, we have a backup in the form of an audio lure we set up at the end of the hall. It will flash and make noise, drawing them in that direction. This should buy you enough time to either get out by the stairs or through the window, where we'll get you down by ladder. We'll do all we can to make sure it doesn't come to that."

"I'm not really confident in their ability to climb stairs," Charlie remarked. She eyed the camera momentarily before looking back to Clay. "Okay, I can handle it. Do I activate the audio lure?"

"It's remotely activated from the van, but if you start hearing them by the stairs, or in the room underneath you, radio me. We're can't be too sure of how many animatronics we'll see tonight. If we're lucky, only the bears and Bonnie. Then we can deal with Foxy at another time." Clay stood by the doorway and sighed deeply, seemingly reluctant to leave. "I should stay up here with you."

"You need to be out there making sure everything's going according to plan. Don't worry about me; it's just like you said, you're going to have an eye on me the entire time."

Clay nodded and finally went to leave the room. He turned back to her one more time before closing the door, a solemn look on his face.

"We're not going to let anything happen to you, Charlie. I swear my life on it," Clay said with full resoluteness. Then he pulled the door shut and left her alone in the dimly lit room. She could hear his footsteps creaking on the stairs shortly afterwards.

With a sigh of her own, Charlie reached into her pocket and pulled out Jessica's little keychain flashlight. A normal flashlight would've drawn too much attention to her, so she brought this one instead. It helped a little, as the room wasn't very dark. The police must've mounted lights somewhere nearby as there was a glow outside, but she couldn't see where from the angle of the window.

She looked at the chair sitting in the center of the room. It had been meticulously lined up underneath the sight of the camera, but that meant sitting it directly across from the door, directly in the view of whoever opened it next. It made her feel even more like an offering waiting to be served up.

Even though she had told Clay she didn't think they could manage stairs, she highly doubted that machines this advanced would be tripped up so easily. They could find a way up here, it was just a matter of if they could do it before the police could stop them.

Something touched her leg and she jumped away from it, only to recognize a familiar, black hand reaching out from under the bed. She gave a small huff.

"A little warning might've been nice." Sammy gave a playful chime and began to climb out the rest of the way, at which Charlie's eyes widened and she tried to stop him. "Wait, don't come out. There's a camera."

Sammy gave a dismissive wave and slid out completely. He then raised to full height and began to look around the meager room. He didn't look impressed, if his fading amusement was any indication.

"Well, it's not a bunker and it's not very safe… I forget, what was the point of coming here again?" Charlie sarcastically asked.

"No witnesses," Sammy cryptically returned. He then hummed thoughtfully and added, "But that audio lure may come in handy."

He didn't sound too concerned, but he could've been hiding it well. Charlie knew he masked his expressions so she wasn't surprised that he was doing so now too. His confidence, real or forced, made her feel slightly better about their chances.

"You don't feel anything yet?" she asked.

"Not yet. I'll tell you when I do," he said. "It may come suddenly. Maybe it won't this time, with us being up here."

"Do you think they can use the stairs?"

"Yes."

Suddenly that confidence wasn't nearly as assuring.

Meanwhile, Clay had made it back outside and was walking briskly to the surveillance van. His face was already grim, but it was too late to start doubting the plan. Just as he was opening the side doors, he noticed Mike staring at him from the backseat of his car. They made eye contact for a long moment before Clay looked back into the surveillance van, silently beckoning Mike before getting inside.

Much to his dismay, Mike saw the momentary gesture and was over to the van in seconds. He brought the axe with him and clutched it like it was his only lifeline. Clay shut the doors behind him.

The van was unimpressive on the inside, with only a single officer sitting in the back in front of two computer screens. He was flipping through the feed on one of them while the other showed static.

"Chief, we're having a problem with the camera in Ms. Emily's room," the officer said. Clay came to look over his shoulder and noticed the distortion, watching as the officer switched the other screen to the same room and showed the same static distortion. "It was fine when you were in there, but just after you left, we lost signal."

With a thoughtful hum, Clay got out his radio and switched to Charlie's frequency. "Charlie, are you there?" he asked.

After a second he received an answer. "I'm here. What's up?"

"We're getting some interference on the camera. Everything alright in there?"

Charlie furrowed her brows and looked to Sammy questioningly. He had almost a smug look on his face, one that confirmed that he was the one behind it.

"The camera looks fine from in here. Maybe there's a problem with the signal?" Charlie asked. "Are any of the other cameras out?"

"Just yours… Don't worry about it. We have a camera at the bottom of the stairs and at the end of the hall, so we have most of our bases covered. Just radio me if you start hearing anything nearby," Clay said. He let the matter drop, but Mike noticed a pensive look in his eyes. Whatever it was, the man didn't act on it and instead returned to looking at the screens.

Unsatisfied with the silence that fell on the van, and the direct lack of any explanation to why Clay caved and brought him in it, Mike tried to strike up the conversation again. "You know, this isn't too different from what I used to do at Freddy's: sitting around watching cameras until some metal Frankenstein starts shuffling onto the screen."

"That's part of the reason why you're in here. We could use the extra set of eyes," Clay said. At least that answered one question. He glanced momentarily in Mike's direction before asking, "Don't get defensive, but mind telling me why you were so determined to come out here with us?"

"I care about Charlie," Mike said without having to think about it. "I've been with her this whole time, I'm not leaving her now."

"How much do you care about Charlie?" Clay asked. Mike actually looked back at this and was met with a questioning look that confirmed exactly what he was asking him.

"No. It's not like that, so you can stop looking at me like that," Mike said, obviously embarrassed by the implication. He looked to the screens again. "Why are you always grilling me, Burke? You know I'm clean."

"I'm just trying to understand why you put up so much of a fight to get out here. Explain it to me, Mike. I want to understand." Mike did not like the tone Clay's voice took. He was used to the cross-examining and his wording that oozed doubt, but that faux-parental tone always caught him off guard. He didn't believe it for a second, so all it did was make him defensive.

"Has it ever occurred to you that I just don't care about the risk? I'm just here because I want to be," Mike snapped. "I know you're worried about a lawsuit, but don't be. I could disappear tomorrow and nobody would notice. Just let me do this."

That came out a lot more pathetic sounding that Mike had intended it to. So much so that he decided not to risk making eye contact with Clay and instead kept his eyes on the screens. Elsewise he might've noticed the concerned look on the older man's face. Clay decided to let the subject drop, and the third man in the room decided to quietly keep to his work.

For the next forty minutes things moved slowly. These minutes passed without anything happening on the screens, where everyone stayed where they were and waited for a sign of something coming.

Then there was a crackle over Clay's radio before a cop announced through it, "Chica's waking up."

Mike's head, crooked down to watch the screens as he leaned on the back of the officer's chair, snapped over to the police chief. "Chica's here?" he asked. The officer switched one of the screens to suddenly show an image of Chica's dome body sitting in the midst of a clearing behind the resort, illuminated under spotlights. Mike was startled by it. "Wait, you brought Chica out here? You already had her taken care of."

"Not taken care of, contained. We couldn't get through its shell to shut it down… So, we're going to lure it back out," Clay said. He raised the radio and spoke into it, "I have my eye on her. Wait until she's up before you engage."

Their eyes returned to the screen just as Songsnare Chica began to stir. It was subtle at first, with the plates blocking the arm holes slid open. The egg-shaped body seemed to shift and lean a little, which seemed to be because it was adjusting its footing, and then its neck hole began to open as well. Its legs slowly began to slide out as it raised itself off of the dirt. In one, smooth motion its arms and head snapped out.

The trap wobbled on its legs in an awkward gait as it tried to work out the tightness in its joints. Its glowing eyes stared dead ahead as it began to wander forward. Oddly, away from the building, as though it wasn't sure of where it was going. This wasn't necessarily a good thing as it meant it would be walking away from the cameras' view.

Clay gave one firm command into his radio: "She's up, move in."

That's all Mike needed to hear to draw his attention fully back to the screen, watching to see what they would do. It felt like watching footage of a car accident he knew was coming and couldn't look away from.

Chica wandered a little more before suddenly turning its head like it heard something. It turned towards the sound before beginning to back further away into the nearby tree line, tucking itself into the bushes. It looked rather obvious from this angle, but could've caught an unsuspecting person off-guard. It then opened up its chest cavity and shot out its snare about twelve feet away. It had already made a new loop out of the remaining wire, which was probably why the snare's length was meager compared to the night before.

After a few moments, Mike could see a lone cop walking out across the grass, directly towards the snare. It was clear from how straight he walked that he was purposefully going towards it. He was dressed in what looked like swat gear, and he was carrying something that was dragging a chain behind. He walked around the snare, testing the ground around it, trying to draw the attention of Chica.

Then he stepped on the edge of the snare and cautiously leaned down. It was then that Mike saw what it was that he had brought, a heavy metal hook, which he looped on the edge of the snare before dragging his foot boldly over it. The wire rapidly pulled and closed, not on his foot but on the hook, and it only drew in a few feet before the chain grew taunt and held it back.

All at once, a group of five or six more policemen rushed from the borders of the camera and closed in on Chica. Some of them were carrying heavy equipment, one in particular carrying a pair of mechanical shears that Mike could only assume was "the jaws of life", dragging an extension cord nearly as thick as the chains.

It was a complete night and day from their last encounter with Chica. It was subdued with a stun gun while the men came in, held its arms back, and swiftly sheered them off. Something that would've been particularly gruesome if it wasn't a lifeless killing machine that knew nothing beyond hunting prey. Having the snare pulled out kept it fully open for the men to begin looking and tinkering in its body.

Mike couldn't see much as his view was blocked by the cops themselves, but he had a hunch that it wasn't going so well. Chica roused enough to start fight- rather pathetically- and they had to shock her again. Eventually a voice came through Clay's radio, and from the scene on the screen it was hard to tell who it was calling it in.

"It's no good. We're not reaching anything that's going to shut her down. The head's pulled too far in to get the neck," whoever it was said. "Do we have a go-ahead on Option B?"

"Yes. Go ahead and do it," Clay said. He lowered his radio and watched the screen expectantly, watching as the cops shuffled.

While the others held Chica open, one of the cops carrying a bad of equipment knelt before her and began to work, reaching into the duffel bag he brought and the robot itself. Then, without much warning, he and the other men all drew back from the animatronic, with only one staying to tase it again before retreating. It didn't have a chance to recover, nor did Mike have a chance to question it before its insides suddenly detonated.

The explosion was contained entirely inside of that animatronic, but was strong enough to snap its snare, blow out the remains of its arms, and force out and cock its head at an uncanny angle. There was no delayed shutdown, Chica was immediately deactivated by the force, leaving nothing but a smoking husk behind.

Mike was stunned and snapped his head towards Clay. "So, that's why you wanted us out in the middle of nowhere! Screw stun guns and axes, let's just blow the things up!" Clay gave a nod, but seemed more interested in watching the screen. A sly smile slowly spread across Mike's face. "There's no way this can be legal."

"We're skirting the law here, Mike, but considering the circumstances it's what has to be done. We already have three homicides on our hands, I'll be damned if I let them get another." Clay's voice was as dead serious as his expression and easily hid the concern beneath the surface. "But now we know they're on the move."

Mike silently agreed and looked to the screen again. In the grand scheme of things, defeating Chica was barely a victory. She was much slower than and not nearly as dangerous as the others, so this was just the beginning of a long night. Clay radioed Charlie to tell her the news before they settled back into silence.

It was over an hour before something changed yet again. By now Charlie had caved and sat in the chair, just had moved it behind the door so that if something came in, she would have a second to duck under the bed. Sammy sat on the bed with his legs crossed and his head resting in one hand. Both were somewhere between bored out of their mind and completely on the edge.

Until Sammy suddenly lifted his head and stared ahead with glowing eyes. His lowered his hand slowly as his pupils darting around. Charlie took notice immediately.

"Do you feel them?" she asked. He nodded stiffly, a fearful look settling on his mask. She got her radio up to her mouth in a heartbeat. "They're nearby. Just trust me on this, I know they're out there."

"We'll take a closer look. Hang tight," Clay responded. He stood up from the equipment box he was sitting on and looked at the screens. The officer had already begun to flip through them, but wasn't seeing much.

That was, until he got to a camera mounted around the back of the building, which had been overcome by static. Unlike the interference from the camera watching Charlie, this one was glitching out in a different way, and sometime flickered a glimpse of the space behind the house, though seriously distorted. Clay changed radio frequency to address the cops standing by.

"We're getting interference on the camera around the back of the building. Is anyone back there who has a clear view?" he called through. He received a quick answer.

"I'm close by. Let me see if I can get a look," one of the men said. Clay could hear his footsteps but couldn't see him on the screens. "I'm not hearing anything from… I see… Got clear visual…" His voice started to go in and out as a low static came from the speaker.

"Can you repeat that?" Clay asked. He was met with mostly static and a few blips of a voice.

"…on bear. Vis… back here…"

Clay exhaled tensely. "Can anyone hear me?" he asked into the radio, but the static that overtook the one cop's radio had overtaken the whole line. He could just hear bits of various voices through the static. Lines of communication were down. He turned his focus to the screen watching officer. "Wallace, go tell the men to check around back. It sounds like Freddy might be back there- and watch your step if he is."

The officer nodded, got up out of his chair, drew his own taser, and left the surveillance van. Clay now turned his attention on the remaining man, "Mike, get on the cameras and watch him."

"Sure thing, Chief," Mike said. It was supposed to sound sarcastic, but from his look alone he just seemed dumbstruck by the call to arms. He smoothly sat down and replicated what he saw the cop doing.

"Keep a close eye on Charlie's camera in case anything changes. If something gets upstairs, Shift L activates the audio lure. Don't use it unless you're sure something's up there or it will lure something up there."

"Got it. Believe me, I know what I'm doing," Mike assured.

He set one screen to watch the still hazy camera and cycled through the other until he found the camera at the corner of the building, which had a good view of the wider area. They could see Wallace walk swiftly up to the side of the house, signal the other cops, and then start heading around the back.

Until he suddenly dropped into the ground.

Mike audibly choked as he watched the man drop waist deep into the ground, which seemed to collapse beneath him. All he could think about was Beartrap Freddy's gaping maw waiting for someone to drop into it. Except then two other officers came over to pull him out and he realized there wasn't an animatronic underneath, just ground that had caved in under his footsteps.

"Did you see that?!" he yelled back at Clay. As though Clay wasn't looking over his shoulder. Like him, Mike never took his eyes off the screen and that was how he noticed something. "Hold on…" It was hard to see from this angle, but it looked like the ground collapsed further in both ways. Almost like- "There's a tunnel under the ground... Oh for f- Freddy's already here! He's been crawling around under their feet!"

Clay had tried to prepare for anything and had known something like this could happen, considering that Freddy could bury itself. Yet just the sight of that collapsed tunnel and his composure started to slip.

"They're here! Circle the building and watch your feet!" he barked. The ominous static hummed through the speaker, and he swore impatiently before putting the radio away and slinging open the van door. "I have to get out there. Keep your eyes screen and don't leave the van."

"Wait a minute-!" But by time Mike turned around, Clay was out the door closing it behind him, cutting him off. "…Yeah, thanks!" Mike yelled after him. He rolled his eyes with exasperation and turned back to the screen just in time to catch a glimpse of movement through it. "Wait, what was that?" he muttered. He clicked through the cameras quickly.

It didn't take him long before he caught sight of it again. For only two seconds at most, he watched as an inhumane, hunched over form darted only feet from where Chica's remains lay and towards the building. He didn't get a good look at it, but he recognized the speed instantly.

Swearing loudly, Mike leapt from the chair and tore after Clay. He found him getting something out of his car and leaned out to yell to him. "Burke, Foxy's here too!" Clay yanked back out of the car with a shotgun in his hands and Mike's eyes popped open when it just skirted getting pointed at him.

"Which way did it go?" Clay asked. He had hoped Foxy wouldn't be part of what they had to deal with tonight, but he wasn't anything they couldn't handle. In fact, Clay was very prepared to go after this one himself.

"Take a guess," Mike replied, directing a hand back at the resort. "I haven't seen him coming around the front, so he's either somewhere on the side or heading around back."

"I'll handle it. Get back inside and watch Charlie. Don't come out unless you're cornered," Clay ordered before striding past. Mike didn't have to be told twice and shut the door before returning to the screens.

They both realized by now that the plan was on shaky ground- threatening to crumble just as easily as the ground collapsed under Wallace's feet- but Clay was willing to force it to stay together. Even if it meant walking straight into the midst of it.

And the midst of its breakdown was located behind the building, right in earshot of Charlie and Sammy.

It started with dull scratches from somewhere nearby, then a brief respite at the sound of men's voices, but that didn't last long. A snap and a yell called out and Charlie knew one of them had stepped in a bear trap, and it had all gone downhill from there. Heavy footsteps closed in, she could hear something splattering, and the voices of the cops as they desperately tried to salvage the situation.

Eventually it became too much to ignore, Charlie had to see what was going on. She pressed up against the wall beside the window to minimize the chance of being seen and peered down at the scene. It was rough to say the least. A group of policemen were grouped together and trying to fend off both Gluetrap Bonnie and Harpooneer Foxy, and this time neither of them were warded off by their numbers.

Bonnie raised its arm to spray them- again, if the tar splattered across their uniforms and the grass was any indication- when one of the cops boldly rushed in and swung out with a sledgehammer, knocking its arm downward. He then rammed it in the belly to try and knock it down, only to have its arm swing out and easily knock him to the ground. Foxy tried to rush in, but the rest of the men were quick to rush in and block him, one firing off the stun gun and getting a dart into his shoulder. Foxy yanked himself back in a stumble, ripping it right back out.

It didn't look good, but it was better than she expected. Charlie had a deep-set fear that the cops would've been easily overpowered, but they seemed to be holding themselves well. Though there wasn't any sign of Beartrap Freddy even though she knew he was nearby. She could even see the trap itself laying on the ground, broken and cut from its chain, but no sign of the bear.

She could hear the scratching coming from beneath her though and looked under the window.

There was a plastic face with a disgusting smile only a few feet beneath her. It was so jarring that she threw herself away from the window and backed a few steps away. That had to be the Conibear.

…But there was nothing she could do. Charlie had agreed to stay here; if she left it could throw a wrench into the works for Clay and his men. They might've not had the upper hand, but they were holding their own, and having the animatronics suddenly go berserk seeing her would not help that. As much as she wanted to do more, she didn't and continued to wait with Sammy.

Things continued happening outside. She couldn't see but the sounds coming through the wall painted a clear picture. The dull pop of Foxy's arm cannon and the resulting scramble to get the netting off. A loud clatter against the wall and a yelp- she imagined someone getting rammed into the wall by Foxy- and a cracking thunk of what could've been the sledgehammer on the bot's skull.

There came a loud bang that sounded distinctly like a gun going off. Both Charlie and Sammy flinched from it, then listened as they could hear Clay yell: "Don't touch it until it drains out!" Clay being there almost made Charlie feel a little safer, but she could tell that Sammy didn't share the sentiment. He was still crouched on the bed as though prepared to spring at any moment. She patted his back comfortingly.

A crash from downstairs stood out amongst the other noises. It was definitely a window shattering in the room beneath them, and there was only one bot she had seen sidled up to a window. Her and Sammy looked at each other and listened together, hearing the telltale heavy footsteps that were crossing the creaking floor and approaching the stairs.

Charlie hastily jumped up and wedged the plastic chair under the doorhandle. She quickly unhooked and turned on her radio before whispering into it, "Clay, one of them got inside."

She was answered by static and distorted voices. Trying to stay calm, she tried again, "Clay? Can you hear me? Anybody?!" It was no good, nothing was getting through. She looked to Sammy thinking that this was also him, but he could only shrug with panic showing on his mask.

The footsteps started to creak up the stairs. Whatever it was being so heavy that it sounded like one of the steps might've cracked and broken beneath it. Running out of options, Charlie ran back to the window and fought with the lock. She struggled with it before managing to pry it from its stuck position and lifting the stiff window up a few inches.

"Clay!" she yelled through. He was standing over the twitching body of a broken Bonnie when he heard and turned towards her. "Clay, the bear got in! It's outside the door!"

Charlie seldom saw Clay look as startled as he did in that moment. He didn't waste any time though, calling back to his men before running down the length of the house.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like it would be fast enough. The footsteps had settled outside the door and as Charlie turned from the window, she could hear a tap, tap, bang as the bear struck the door with its clawed hand. Sammy crawled to her side of the bed and pointed under it. She dropped down and crawled underneath, with Sammy following her a second later.

The bear was more aggressive tonight. She didn't know if it was because it had seen her or because it was somehow aware that two of the other bots had been deactivated, but it didn't plan around trying to lure the Puppet out with soft scratching. It must've thrown its whole body against the door from the thunderous noise. It was enough to break the upper hinges and cause the door to lean in.

A second blow broke the door down as the chair fell and was shoved aside by its weight. Now Charlie could see the large feet as the beast stepped into the room, the door cracking and breaking underneath them. Any fabric had been worn away to reveal the endoskeleton beneath, just like many of the others. Though the size difference was obvious.

Sammy was trying his hardest not to make any audible ticking noise from his anxiousness. This translated into trembling as he stayed tight to Charlie's side. He only took his eyes of the bears' leg when he noticed his sister reached for her taser- the one she had fixed, not the stun gun. The Fazbear Entertainment grade taser that would deal a much harsher blow, though wasn't guaranteed a second.

She pulled her hand in front of her and he reached for it, lying his hand on hers and then gently pushing it back. She looked to him questioningly; he looked from under the bed. The bear's feet were now facing towards them and he could hear the squeaking as it started to lean over. Clawed fingers slowly slid under the edge of the bed frame, clutched onto it, and began to slowly lift the bed up.

Charlie blinked and suddenly Sammy was gone. Her breath hitched and she expected to hear a fight break out, but it didn't. The only thing that happened was that the bear's hand suddenly stopped, holding the bed frame up only a few inches. It must've felt him leave and was tracking where he was. Charlie held the taser tighter and braced herself.

But Sammy hadn't gone far. He had only teleported as far as the hallway before hastily rushing to the end to search for the audio lure. It didn't take long to find it: it was just inside the door at the end of the hall, what looked to be little more than a stereo with a strobe light mounted to its top. He struggled to try and figure out how to turn it on.

He didn't have to struggle long though, because the moment the Puppet left the bedroom the camera static lightened up and began to glitch out like it had behind the house. All it took was a few seconds before Mike caught a brief frame of the massive creature standing in the bedroom. He couldn't even see what it was doing, he just swore again loudly and turned on the audio lure.

The sound of sirens blared from the lure as the light on top began to flash and spin. The noise alone was enough to snap the animatronic out of its processing, cause it to drop the bed, and wander to the door and out into the hall. Charlie waited until its sluggish footsteps were halfway down before she scrambled out from under the bed and made a run for it.

She hesitated at the top of the stairs, wondering if she needed to go after Sammy. She quickly remembered that he could easily teleport back out and turned to run into the stairwell just in time to run into Clay.

He was relieved to see that she was alright, but was soon looking into the hallway past her. "Where is it?" he asked.

"Down the hall. It was following the noise." He started to pass by her when she grabbed his arm to stop him. "Wait. You're not going to be able to take it out with just a gun. It's bigger and stronger than any of the others," Charlie half-pleaded with him. More cops were coming up the stairwell behind her and Clay acknowledged them momentarily before addressing her.

"This is our best chance. We need to take it out while it's still cornered. Wait downstairs for us," he instructed. She wasn't sure if she agreed with his stubbornness, but she nodded and headed down the steps, keeping against the wall to let the rest of the men by.

Charlie didn't feel any safer being downstairs. Not only could she now see the window that had been broken in, but the front doors were open, making the entire room feel open. She could hear footsteps coming from upstairs, then some bumping and thumping, a loud bang that didn't sound like a gunshot, all melded together with the continued noise of the lure.

Then there came an especially loud series of noises. Banging and scuffling, heavy footsteps that were so forceful that the cobwebs on the exposed rafters were trembling, and a loud cracking and scraping on one of the walls. Clay was barking orders before suddenly getting cut off, which was followed by a loud thump.

Now Charlie was starting to become concerned. She stayed planted at the bottom of the steps with the stun gun grasped tightly in her hand and waited for a clawed hand to reach around the corner.

Before that could happen, she heard a squeaking from the direction of the broken window. The sound of wet metal joints rubbing together. Charlie turned her head only to see a familiar face staring at her through the window, Foxy. His mouth hanging open like it was broken and revealing the rows of teeth inside.

She only had a single thought: "Run!"

Charlie made a run for the front door and sprinted out and across the parking lot. She got about halfway across when she noticed a pair of headlights flashing off in a different direction from Clay's car and the van. She recognized that it was her car and began to run in that direction.

She reached the grass and kept running as John stepped out of the driver's side door. Jessica popped out from the other side before suddenly clasping her hands over her mouth in horror. John suddenly broke into a run towards her as Jessica peeled back her hands to scream at the top of her lungs.

"Charlie, run, run! It's behind you!"

Charlie heard the footsteps as Harpooneer Foxy charged out from the inn and quickly caught up with her. In the last second, she ran to the side as a last-ditch effort to lose the bot, but it was no good. Its weight crashed into her and threw her onto the rough dirt. Foxy's feet were planted on either side of her as it leaned in close and aimed its harpoon for her spine.

When Sammy suddenly threw himself onto Foxy and wrapped his arms around his head. He yanked it back, legs pressed into the beast's hunch, and his strings quickly interlaced before he twisted the beast's head further to the side. Foxy was thrown off-balance and staggered back, almost stepping on Charlie in the process. She pushed up from the ground to find John's hand waiting for her to take it.

He helped her to her feet before pushing her behind him and standing with bat poised. He was ready to take on Harpooneer Foxy himself, but could only watch in shock as the striped creature continued to puppeteer Foxy into stumbling around in the grass, all while playing chaotic nursery rhyme music. Charlie yanked up the stun gun and prepared for an opening to subdue Foxy. She didn't even have a chance.

The Puppet continued to build up the tension in his body and strings before suddenly- on the 'pop'- he straightened himself up and ripped the bot's head free from the endoskeleton and much of its wiring. Alas, it made more of a sizzling crunch that the satisfying 'pop' that might've punctuate the music, which died the moment Foxy did.

Harpooneer Foxy's headless body staggered momentarily before collapsing into a heap. It looked like little more than a pile of scrap with the Puppet hovering above it, who dropped the head uselessly to the ground.

Sammy was slow to raise his head. He could feel all of their eyes and had to fight against the programming telling him to either lock up or flee. He refused to do either and faced Charlie's friends head on. His eyes darted to each of them one at a time; John with his tightened jaw, Jessica's hand back on her mouth, and Lamar holding something that looked suspiciously like a camera- not that Sammy was concerned.

He was much more worried about Charlie's reaction. He felt like he had broken his promise to her, even if they had agreed to him intervening if things got too dangerous. Foxy was very prepared to stab her through, he knew she was going to understand why he did this, but he also feared her disappointment. He looked to her face last and saw the fear on her face.

He felt a sinking feeling as he realized that she was looking past him. He slowly turned around to look back at the building and saw what it was that she was afraid of.

It almost took up the entire doorway from its girth alone, having to bend down just to fit through. Its fabric was a moldy mustard color that struck Sammy with an uneasy feeling of familiarity. Instead of a trap, it seemed to be shaped much more like an oversized teddy bear. Its overfilled body oozing dirty cotton out of the tears in its plush suit.

He finally got a good look at both of its hands. One had the long claws that he recognized tapping on the windows- all the better to clip his strings. The other had a strange tool replacing the hand. It looked like a normal hammer than had been grafted to a spring mechanism where the wrist would've been. That was what it must've used to break through the windows so easily- perfect for shattering porcelain.

Once it stood upright, they could see its belly. The yellowed fabric was broken up by a large, red cross pattern across its chest and down its stomach. An oversized, red ribbon was tied like a bowtie, but was stained and frayed at the edges. Both of these together almost gave it the look of a wrapped present- save the ominous dark crease down the center of its stomach.

But nothing could prepare Sammy and Charlie for the chills that would come when the bear snapped itself upright and revealed its face, even when the latter had caught a glimpse of it.

Its face was comprised of a rubber mask that had been sewn into the fabric. White eyes were painted on the mask with holes poked through the pupils to let the endoskeleton optics underneath see out. It had a typical square-shaped nose with some of its coloring worn away to reveal a tan color underneath. There was a cheap-looking wrinkle across the left side of its face.

The smile was absolutely revolting. It was stretched down its face like the rubber itself had melted and was painted entirely black. No teeth, no real mouth, just a large, off-triangle shaped deformation sitting underneath two round and rosy cheeks. Its face was a disgusting reflection of Sammy's own.

This was the Conibear, and the moment its eyes met Sammy it focused with an intensity unlike any he had felt being watched before. Its neck even slid further out as it fixated on its prey. The pulsing in his head became stronger than ever, like a pounding heartbeat. He found himself petrified even though every part of him was screaming to escape from its sight.

Charlie had a bad feeling that she knew what was coming. "Sammy, get in the car," she said firmly. Yet he didn't move, seemingly stuck on the spot. "Sammy, you have to get away from it! Now!"

What came immediately after this was not what anyone expected. Especially not Charlie, who had seen the methods of the others and expected it to charge them. That was not what it did. What it did was far worse.

Suddenly crackling music began to play from a half-obscured speaker under its bow, and with it the animatronic began to sway its head left and right in a bouncy, mock-playful motion, one that didn't match the music box tune very much. It moved more like a giddy child happy to see a new toy to play with. Then in a split second, it stuck its arms out in front of it and tilted its head. Almost like it was asking for a hug.

Sammy turned and rushed towards Charlie and John at the same second that the Conibear broke into a toddling gait.

John didn't need anything more to get the signal. He grabbed Charlie's hand and began to make a mad dash back towards the car. Knowing Sammy was close behind, she ran with John back towards the car.

Except for one problem, Sammy was not following close at all. He did for only a few seconds before his body started to falter. Gravity suddenly grew heavier until it ripped him out of the air and dropped him onto unsteady legs. He only managed through a few awkward steps before collapsing to the ground. He fought the programming trying to forcibly shut him down and began to crawl.

Everything seemed so blurred and far away now. He couldn't even call out to Charlie because so much of his control was snatched away. He couldn't feel his legs anymore, just his arms, and he used those to continue crawling across the grass. He could hear the Conibear's heavy steps creeping up behind him. The closer it got, the harder it was to hold on to that last bit of consciousness.

Charlie and John had almost gotten to the car when Jessica gave a startled cry and started to frantically point past them. "You have to go back for Sammy! It's about to get him!" she cried.

Charlie felt her heart drop and turned back just in time to see Sammy reduced to crawling. There was momentary shock before it all clicked together: Mike said a music box was used to subdue Sammy, and the Conibear hadn't began playing music until it saw him.

"Oh God, no!" she thought. Without any explanation, she broke from John's hold, grabbing his bat in the process, and ran as fast as she could back towards her brother.

Sammy could see her coming and tried desperately to regain enough control to push forward, but willpower alone wouldn't overtake programming, and the music box was now directly behind him. He didn't look back, not even when he heard an enormous clank right over his head and felt warm air wafting out over him.

The bear's belly opened up to reveal a gaping pit of crude spikes with two distinct metal walls made to close and crush anything unfortunate enough to be trapped inside. It was like some disturbed corruption between an iron maiden and a trash compactor. It was an animatronic torture device, and Charlie had a clear view straight into it.

Sammy reached for her one last time before collapsing and going still. Seemingly waiting for this, the Conibear reached and grabbed him by the other arm, lifting him like a ragdoll and dragging him to its belly.

Charlie knew she only had one shot. She stepped aside to get a clear view before firing the stun gun deep into the depths of the trap. The darts clattered against the metal spine behind the crushing mechanism and got caught the strands of worn wiring netting underneath, where she delivered the full brunt of the taser's power.

The Conibear jolted upright and seized, its grip weakening enough that Sammy slipped through its claws and collapsed to the grass again. Charlie continued to hold it at bay until the gun ran out of charge, upon which she threw it aside and switched to the bat. With it still stunned, she began to beat the Conibear with all she had; knocking aside its arm and then aiming for the speaker hidden under its bow.

"He's not yours!" she yelled as she smashed the flimsy speaker in.

"You can't have him!" Now she switched targets and aimed for its head. One swing was enough to cause that ugly wrinkle to tear open.

"I'm not afraid of you, not anymore! You're nothing! Nothing but Afton's- DISGUSTING- WORTHLESS- MONSTER!" She punctuated each word with a savage blow until its rubber mask was partially caved in.

The only reason she stopped in her assault on the bot was because it suddenly shook its head and neck, like it was literally shaking off the shock and ready to pursue again. Charlie reigned herself in and turned to make a grab for Sammy. The Conibear reached after her only to be blindsided by a tire iron knocking its arm back, curtesy of Lamar.

John and Jessica had arrived as well and while Lamar tried to distract the Conibear, John took back his bat to shield the two women as they gathered up Sammy. He was more awkward than heavy and each wrapped an arm around their shoulders to carry him back to the car.

The Conibear recovered smoothly, pinwheeling its arm and hitting Lamar from directly above, knocking him flat to the ground. It never took its eyes off of the Puppet and began to bound after them. Lamar was barely able to scramble aside before he could be crushed under its foot. John got between the bear and the others as Charlie unhooked her taser and Jessica watched in horror-

-when someone stepped from behind the bear and with one swing of their weapon severed the hammer mechanism from the end of the Conibear's arm.

It was Mike, with his axe gripped tightly in his hands and vengeance in his eyes. Unlike Lamar's efforts, the amputation of its arm caught the attention of the Conibear. It raised its limb and studied it with a high-pitched crackling from its speaker, then began to turn and face the man who had done so to it. Mike sized it up with a tight jaw before yelling to the others.

"Take Sammy and run! I've got it covered!" he lied through his teeth. Charlie didn't have a choice but to do as he said, knowing it was too much for him but having to get Sammy to safety. She and Jessica carried him to the car with John at their heels. Surprisingly, Lamar was the one to hesitate, looking like he was considering staying to fight. Mike called to him, "Don't be a hero, Kid! Get the hell-!"

He was cut off rather abruptly by the Conibear swiping at him. He managed to duck forward just in time, only to have it jut its belly forward and try to snap closed on him. Mike barely dodged this and took a wide swing towards the other arm. The axe tore through the fabric but only clipped the endoskeleton underneath. The Conibear whacked him over the back with its stump and caused him to stagger forward, then stabbed towards him with its claws bared.

Mike got lucky and angled his axe upwards to catch its hand between the fingers. Unfortunately, the Conibear was two steps ahead of him. Its claws suddenly closed tight on the axe head before it rotated its wrist, twisting it forcefully out of Mike's grasp. Even though he recovered just as fast, getting the axe back in grip, its hand suddenly shot forward toward his abdomen. He stepped back just in time to dodge being gutted.

The claws sliced through his clothes and scratched across his skin, leaving superficial but stinging wounds. Not that Mike would notice when it bunched his clothes in its grasp and lifted him clean off the ground with no struggle. Its head turned and it looked back towards the hotel momentarily, eyes flashing through its mask, and Mike took this moment to raise his axe and prepared to slice through the second arm.

Until he was suddenly lurched forward and then thrown back across the grass. It was at least a clean twelve feet before he landed painfully on his back, dropping the axe at his side. He had only a second to recover before the ground started to shift underneath him. Adrenaline forced him to his feet as he tried to scramble back, but the dirt continued to collapse beneath him, and this time it wasn't just an empty trench underneath.

A large head began to unbury itself from beneath him. A familiar face with razor sharp teeth and beady eyes twisted and wriggled its body as it followed his heels. Its mouth opened wide to reveal a plunging hole of metal and darkness inside of its gullet just beyond those rusty teeth.

"No, no, no! Freddy- Freddy!" Mike yelled in panic. He barely grabbed his axe before it could slide down beside Beartrap Freddy's jaws and then whacked him over the head with the back of it. It did nothing to stop it and he continued to crawl backwards, fighting the collapsing dirt, as he tried to free his taser.

The second Mike got it free, Freddy tried to bite down on his shoe and he just barely pulled his leg back in time. Then he leaned forward and stabbed the taser at its lower jaw. It opened its mouth wider at the last moment and he missed, and barely yanked back his hand before the teeth snapped down. He quickly jabbed it in the lower jaw and sent a shock through its body.

Apparently, Charlie fixed the taser a little too well as Beartrap Freddy seized so aggressively that head snapped back and its jaw chattered. Mike continued to release the charge until the taser started to burn his hand and smell distinctly like melting plastic. Throwing it aside and not giving Freddy a moment of rest, he swung his axe down into the bear's head. It took three swings to break into Freddy's endoskeleton.

Before Mike could deliver the fourth, he suddenly found himself being pulled free of the dirt from behind. He looked over his shoulder to see Clay looking a little worse for wear with a bleeding nose and a busted lip. The man pushed him aside before picking back up his shotgun and forcing it into Freddy's chattering mouth, aiming it upwards towards its head.

With one loud bang, Beartrap Freddy's reign of terror came to a sudden end. It was still twitching in the dirt as the lights in its eyes died.

Clay turned to Mike. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'll live… I'll be a lot better if you drop a bomb in this one two," Mike said. It was clear from his voice that he was a little shaken by it.

Clay offered his hand and helped him too his feet before turning and running towards a scene occurring across the parking lot, barking into his radio for his men to secure Beartrap Freddy and, once he ran past it, Harpooner Foxy. Without any hesitation, Mike followed behind him.

Charlie and her friends had gotten to the car only moments before what transpired with Beartrap Freddy. Including Lamar who had run as soon as he saw Mike thrown, assuming he was safer wherever he was landing and that he himself would be the Conibear's next target.

Charlie laid Sammy in the back seat and checked his mask. There was a flickering glow to his eyes, but they didn't seem like they were focusing on anything.

"Sammy? Can you hear me?" Charlie asked. There was no response. She snapped her fingers a few times to no avail and frowned worriedly down at him.

"Is he going to be okay? Has this ever happened before?" Jessica asked. She had gotten in the passenger's seat but was leaning between the seats to see what was happening. Her lips were tight in a worried pout.

"No, but I think I know what it is. It looks like he's coming to a little," Charlie assured. She was about to try rousing him again when she heard John swear under his breath and looked up through the windshield to see the Conibear closing in a lot faster than she expected. Her breath hitched seeing it so close.

After everything they had gone through, after how much they had all fought it, it still moved like there had been no damage done to it. With the cops still hung up around the resort, it would walk right out of the stake out site and follow them wherever they would go. It was always going to be following Sammy and waiting for a moment where it could take him away.

Frankly, Charlie had enough.

"Everyone, brace yourselves! This is going to be a rough road to drive out of backwards," John called. He dropped his hand onto the shift to throw it into reverse, only to suddenly have Charlie's hand stop his. He looked back to see her now leaning between the seats and staring at the bear. She had an unreadable expression on her face.

Then she took a small breath and said, "John, let's switch. I'll drive, you help them get Sammy out of the car and to safety."

"Whoa, wait. What are you going to do?" John asked uneasily.

"I'm thinking about wrecking my car," she said, still staring at the Conibear. He glanced between her and where she was looking and put the pieces together quickly, but it too him a long pause before he spoke again.

"No," he said. "…By which I mean, no, I'm not getting out of the car. Jess, Lamar, you two get Sammy and head towards the highway." Jessica popped out of the passenger's side and shut the door while John met eyes with Charlie again. "Wouldn't be the first car I wrecked," he said with a teasing smile. Regardless of Charlie's concern, she couldn't help but smile.

Though that smile dropped the second that Jessica got into the backseat, sliding in beside the equally alarmed Lamar. "Jess, what are you doing? You don't want to be in here when we do this."

"If it's safe enough for you, then I'm staying. I didn't come this far to bail out," Jessica said. She then looked to Lamar questioningly. He seemed torn for a moment before turning to the others.

"You all are my best friends and I'd go out on a ledge for any of you. We've seen some crazy stuff together and we survived it sticking together. I'd do anything for any of you guys," he said solemnly. He paused a long moment before adding, "…But if you guys don't mind, I think I'm going to get out now."

Jessica got an unenthused look and moved aside as Lamar squeezed past her and got out of the car. Then she slid into his seat fully and put on the seatbelt, muttering a soft, "Wuss." Charlie was about to tell her to stop Lamar so he could take Sammy with him, but didn't get a chance.

"Whatever we're going to do we have to do it now," John suddenly interrupted. Both woman looked forward to see the Conibear climbing the short slope towards the car and knew they ran out of time.

Charlie buckled her own seatbelt, pulled Sammy's upper half across her lap, and braced herself on the back of the driver's seat. Then she gave a firm and decisive, "Floor it!"

Taking a deep breath, John steeled his hands on the steering wheel and forced the gas pedal all the way down. The car squealed momentarily, wheels skidding on the rocks before it lurched forward. He turned the wheel sharply and drove off the road, the car nearly bottoming out over a bump before gaining speed. The whole process only lasted a few seconds before the Conibear was in the headlights.

Everyone braced for impact as the car crashed head on into the bot. Instead of smashing into the hood, the bear was pushed back with the car and it drove up over its legs, lodging itself up on its body.

Jessica gave a sharp gasp as the car came to a sudden halt, the front still stuck up in the air a few feet. She had been yanked back into the seat by the seatbelt, which she was now clutching for dear life.

"Is everyone okay?!" she cried.

Charlie straightened up in her seat and found herself unharmed. She checked Sammy too and found him undamaged, though his eyes were now glowing without flickers, signaling that he was rousing. She noticed a quiet from up front and quickly leaned over the seat. "John?!" she asked worriedly. "Did you hit anything?!"

"I hit the bear," John said distantly. He was still gripping the steering wheel as he came down off the adrenaline high. "I'm fine, I just feel kind of sick." She reached out to hug him around the seat.

The brief comfort didn't last when the car suddenly rocked back. The Conibear was still active and alert and now trying to pull itself out from under the car. Springing into action, and absolutely fed up at this point, Charlie grabbed the first weapon she could find- the tire iron left behind by Lamar- and jumped out of the car. Jessica tried to catch her arm but just missed her.

She found the Conibear pinned with its legs stuck under the car and its lone functioning arm trying to lift it off with little success. Its partially mutilated face stared up blankly and its front was still gaped open, with the outer belly 'flaps' unable to close against the car. Charlie looked over the bot quickly and tried to figure out what else she could do while Lamar ran up and the others got out of the car.

"Well… At least it's stuck now," Jessica tried as she watched from a safe distance. She looked back to the resort and could see Mike and Clay making their way over. "Here comes Clay. Maybe he'll know what to do."

But the Conibear was becoming more hostile. It rocked its body forward, almost bucking the car off of it and freeing itself from the hold. The chances of Clay having something that would destroy the bot were slim, and it would take too long to wait for the scattered cops to get there- if the radios were still being distorted by the bear itself. Something had to be done now.

Charlie couldn't help but stare at that exposed spine and wires. Located right behind the crushing mechanism, it was clear that these were its Achilles heel. If she could overload them with the stronger taser it was possible that she could short circuit the whole system, burning the bear from the inside out. Though that would mean getting the hand taser past the crusher.

The answer was literally in hand: the tire iron. Charlie circled to the other side of the Conibear, where its remaining hand couldn't reach her, and lined up her aim before thrusting the metal cross into the bear. The crusher tried to snap closer only to be caught by the cross, which was kept from slipping by the crude spikes. She could only hope that it would hold long enough for her to work.

"Charlie, I hope you're not thinking of trying to- Don't you dare reach in there!" Jessica yelled in aghast. They all figured out what she was going to as she threw her jacket on the hood and unhooked her taser. John stepped forward to try and stop her, only to have her thrust her free hand back at him.

"Lower me in! I know what I'm doing!" Charlie said. Against his better judgement, John trusted her a second time and took her hand in a secure grip to help he lean in.

Charlie started to reach into the Conibear before having to lean to the side to skirt its claw. Though it became much less threatening when a second later Mike swooped in and with only a few swings, chopped off the entire arm just beneath the shoulder. The other arm was held at bay by Clay who knelt on it. Much to everyone's surprise, he didn't stop Charlie, he just watched like a hawk, ready to step in if anything went wrong.

Once she was as close as she could get, and sure the tire iron was going to hold, Charlie reached out with the taser and jammed it into the wires. She pressed them back to the spine to make sure they would both be affected and let loose the full force of the charge.

The Conibear began to seize violently, almost more so than even Freddy had. Its head thumped back against the ground as its flaps knocked against the front of its car. Strangely enough though, Charlie noticed that the crushing mechanism wasn't reacting the same way. She had assumed that it would, which would risk the tire iron falling out of place, but instead the mechanism seemed to grip harder.

A few of the cops had noticed what was going on and began to approach. Clay noticed and quickly yelled to them, "Get back! Go check the others!" Thankfully, they did as told, as the situation was too precarious to have any distractions. Any wrong move and Charlie would be crushed in the prison designed for her twin.

Though it soon became apparent that something was going wrong. The tasing was still working in causing the Conibear to seize, the wires were now smoking and their casings melting against the spine. The tool itself grew heated in her hand but she was able to withstand it due to the adrenaline high. Yet it looked like the walls had gotten closer.

That was when Jessica had spotted it: the tire iron, a tool made completely of metal, was beginning to fold under the pressure of the crusher. "Oh my God, it's bending the tire iron!" she yelled.

John's eyes shot open at he looked further downward to see that Jessica was right. Clay, who couldn't see it from where he was, gave sharp bark of, "Pull her out!"

"Not yet! I just need- I need a few more seconds!" Charlie begged. The Conibear wasn't seizing as much and more of the nest wires were now melting together. She was so close to destroying it once and for all and guaranteeing that it would never come back, never to be rebuilt. "I'm almost there! I've almost got it!"

"The jack!" Jessica suddenly yelled. She pulled Lamar back towards the car before throwing herself across the passenger's seat and leaning enough to pop the trunk- which was still popped from earlier. "There's a jack in the trunk! We can use that!"

"I'm on it!" Lamar said. He ran behind the car and began to dig through the supplies in the trunk, Jessica soon joining him to search.

The walls were still continuing to press in like some diabolical failsafe and once the tire iron began to bend it began to severely loose its strength. Any moment it could lose its last amount of hold. Mike and Clay were helpless, with neither the axe handle nor shotgun capable of holding it open, let alone fitting in the now smaller space. The only one who had any control was John, and that was quickly running out.

Everything happened very quickly. Beyond the noises of the bot itself, there was a strange squeaking noise that Charlie recognized as the tire iron sliding against the wall of the crusher as it reached the point of collapse. There was no going back, she didn't even have enough time to tell John to pull her back as in only a few second the Conibear would close on her.

She got out nothing more than, "It's closing-!"

Before the axe was suddenly shoved in right in front of her, barely her arm, and catching the walls with the length of its head alone. It gave the extra seconds she desperately needed to finish the job.

She had thought it was Mike up until she looked up to see the black fingers wrapped around the handle. It was Sammy, who was fighting his weakened body and immense fear of the bear to protect her.

Mike himself was left standing there in shock, having just been blindsided by a black figure crawling up his body and snatching his axe out of his hands. He wasn't the only one watching either, with Clay outright staring at the Puppet while John only briefly looked at Sammy before turning his attention back to Charlie. He hoped the axe would hold for just a little longer.

It didn't need to. Right when Charlie was sure that the taser was beginning to burn her skin, the nest of wires suddenly burst into flames. She yanked her hand back and John took the cue to swiftly pull her back out. Everyone watched with bated breath as the Butcher shuddered weakly before its body finally went still. The fire continued to spread inside it as the light finally left its eyes.

Sammy fought to pull the axe free and eventually yanked it loose. He staggered back on unsteady legs, the axe falling over his shoulder, only to suddenly sway forward again and bring it down into the Conibear's face. It sliced straight through the rubber mask and into whatever endoskeleton was underneath with a loud crunch. He left it lodged in the Conibear's split face as he raised to full height.

There was a long moment that passed then filled with silent discontent. It was finally over, the Butchers had been destroyed- to their knowledge- but maybe at a greater price. The Puppet had been seen, Clay was right there watching the entire thing, there were cops on the scene who could be watching. He felt so many eyes that he could no longer distinguish who's they were.

But then he raised his head and met Charlie's gaze. A beat passed, and then Charlie managed a smile. Even through the living nightmare of tonight and the uncertain future, she was able to smile, and even though he had his default one cemented on his face she could somehow tell that he started to return it honestly.

The Butcher's Traps had been destroyed. They would finally wake up to a brand-new day without the fear of monsters taking them in their sleep.

And then Sammy had a jacket thrown over his head and was snatched up off of his shaky legs. He fought it and got as far as wrapping his strings around his captor's arm before realizing that it was Mike, who covered the Puppet and hustled around the car to hide him before anyone else could see.

Clay snapped out of whatever trance he was and called after him. "This car's not moving anytime soon, Mike. Head over to mine. The doors are still unlocked." Mike got a skeptical look before jogging off in that direction. Clay looked over the others and added, "Same goes for the rest of you. You can take my car home, we'll be here cleaning up for a while… Charlie, if you could stay back for a minute?"

That was enough to make her nervous. Especially when he proceeded to remove the axe from the Conibear's head and replace it with the shotgun, firing off into the bear's head. It sounded like it did a lot more damage than they could see, and it was loud enough to make everyone tense or jump.

John grabbed her jacket from her hood and offered it to her. She took it with a quiet "thank you" and slipped it on, during which he rested a hand on her back and leaned in.

"Do you want me to stay?" he asked. She couldn't tell if it was for moral support or fear that the animatronic would get back up. The way he eyed it of the corner of his eye seemed to suggest the latter.

She gave him an assuring smile. "I'll be fine. You go on ahead and I'll just… Tell him the truth," she said.

He nodded and leaned in to kiss her on the cheek, then started to follow Jessica off. Both of them kept looking back like they were reluctant to leave her. Lamar hesitated long enough to pull a camera out of his jacket pocket and get a couple of picture of the Conibear before following along with them.

Now Charlie was alone with Clay, who was speaking into his radio to alert his men of the final animatronic to secure. As she suspected, it must've been the Conibear disrupting the signal as the radio was working fine now. Once he finished, he turned to her to speak, but she beat him to it.

"I know how bad this looks, but if you'll just let me explain… It's not as cut and dry as it looks," she began. He seemed to be listening so she continued. "…It's Sammy. He's the Puppet."

Clay didn't even bat an eye and gave a simple, "I figured as much." His nonchalance took Charlie completely by surprise.

"You knew?" she asked in disbelief and he nodded. "How could you know? Unless you mean you just figured it out-?"

"Charlie, I told you I investigated the old Freddy's. That we studied the Toy animatronics, including the Puppet. I had those security codes written down years ago, and between that and you bringing it- him to my house, I started to put a few of the pieces together. It explained some things, like how the Butchers were tracking you so well, and then the static on the camera feed was the same as recorded at Freddy's."

"I'm sorry. I thought about telling you, but- Sammy- I'm trying to keep him safe, and when you started talking about collecting footage… I trust you, Clay, I really do, but I know not everyone's going to look at him and see the human he is," Charlie explained. Clay's face softened. "But he's not dangerous. He's been living with me for months so I can contest to that."

"I believe you. Which is why I won't be mentioning him in the report. If anyone saw him, I'm going to tell them that he is an animatronic you built. None of these men worked on the Freddy case, none of them will be able to recognize him." Charlie felt a huge relief wash over her. "But," Clay added quickly, "I'm going to trust you to keep an eye on him. He may be Sammy but you can't forget that he is still an animatronic. If the wrong hands got ahold of him- and we both know who I mean- they could tamper with him. Reprogram him. Just like these ones."

As much as she wanted to deny it, Clay had a point. Just knowing that someone could program machines to be like this was a disturbing though. She wished the fiery death of William Afton could give her solace, but it didn't, not when this proved that he could reach beyond the grave in a completely different way. Clay noticed the disconcertment on her face and placed an almost fatherly hand on her shoulder.

"But this isn't the time or place to dwell on that. Not after what you've gone through tonight. If it wasn't for you, these things would still be prowling the city."

"Prowling the city looking for me," she corrected with a tepid smile.

"Prowling the city looking for anyone who walked in their path. Now it's finally over. Maybe we can all start to heal…" He looked down at the Conibear and sighed deeply at the sight of it. Then took out his car keys and handed them off to her. "If Carlton's still awake then please tell him I'll be home later." Charlie nodded and took the keys, and Clay smiled at her. "I'm proud of you, Charlie."

Even if Charlie had mixed feelings about this whole thing, something about the way he said that left her flustered. "Well, uh… Thanks, Clay. But if you ever need someone to play bait again, I'm going to have to take a rain check," she said. He gave a half of a chuckle, probably the closest he had gotten to laughing in years, and Charlie finally turned to head to the car.

It was like all of the air was deflated out of her at once. She was heavy and exhausted, shaky and nervous even though it was all supposed to be over. She just hoped they would be able to sleep tonight.

While all this was happening, Mike had run back to Clay's car and nearly threw the Puppet and then himself into the backseat, slamming the door closed behind him. He was still pumped up from everything that had happened, half wired off of it, but kept a clear enough head to scan the windows and make sure there was nothing outside.

After the night they had, he wouldn't have been surprised if a sixth animatronics spontaneously fell out of the sky, but this didn't happen. The night was finally calm- or calm enough around the car.

"Looks like the coast is clear… Did you see that thing throw me directly on top of Freddy? I still can't believe that. I swear it looked back and radar detected exactly where he was and threw me right on his head. And then Freddy nearly took my hand off! That one's been gunning for me, I swear," Mike rambled. He didn't receive an answer.

After a few more seconds with no response or even movement from the Puppet, he lifted up his jacket to peek underneath. "Stripes? You okay in there?"

The Puppet looked shaken, that was the only way to describe it. He was kneeling on the middle seat, crouched down and with his head low, and had a distressed look. One with a slight frown and widened eyes.

"Stripes?" This time Sammy looked up and acknowledged him, though when his gaze fell his look became even more dire. They had just survived the most aggressive animatronics Mike had ever seen and here he was already worrying again, probably about Clay seeing him. Mike had to admit that it worried him too, but he was unwilling to even spare the thought.

Not that he didn't understand how traumatizing this all must've been to Sammy. It was more than the fear of getting caught; Mike himself had seen into the belly of that bear and the fate built for the Puppet. Just thinking about it made him angry in a way he couldn't explain. Because the bear was dead, the man that made the bear was dead, and all of it was over, but it didn't feel like enough.

"Alright, come here," Mike said, sticking an arm out. Sammy seemed unsure, with his eyes flicking to Mike, to his arm, to the window, until he was beckoned with his hand. Finally Sammy slid close beside him and allowed Mike to pull him into a one-armed hug. Despite his hesitation, Sammy quickly caved into the offer of comfort, wrapping his long arms around his middle and pressing his mask into his shoulder.

"That any better?" The tall puppet nodded and hugged a bit tighter. Mike smiled a little. "You scared me back there. When I first saw the girls trying to drag you off, I thought you must've been banged up pretty badly. Or worse… I guess I started getting a little attached to the two of you. Kind of hard not to when you go through all of this together," he confessed. "But hey, we lived."

The noise that Sammy replied with was a little strange. Instead of a chime it sounded like a rattle or a trill. It sounded positive, at least, as he was squeezed tighter.

It didn't last long as Mike glanced out the window and noticed people walking towards the car. "Head's up, here comes Charlie's posse," he warned. Sammy reluctantly detached his arms from him and pulled the jacket further over his head, though then retook his place leaning against Mike's shoulder. Guessing he needed the comfort, Mike kept his arm where it was.

Jessica climbed into the backseat through the other side and scooted into the middle, Lamar following to take the window seat, and John got in the driver's seat. The tone in the car was immediately awkward with a long period where nobody said anything. John stared out the window to see when Charlie would walk up, Mike and Lamar both looked out their respective windows, and Jessica sat quietly alongside Sammy.

She stole a quick look at the Puppet, who was still turned towards Mike and clutching the jacket to himself with tight fingers. She could see his tenseness in his hand alone and bit her lip. Then, making up her mind, she reached out and brushed her fingers on his. It must've startled him as his head turned abruptly, though he didn't pull away.

Jessica gently rested her hand on his and pulled it from the jacket, instead holding it in hers. He adapted to it slowly and cautiously laced his fingers between hers. It felt like a massive breakthrough; Jessica couldn't help but smile to herself at the thought.

Finally Charlie made it to the car. She briskly walked around the front and got into the passenger side, dropping into the seat and shutting the door behind her. She turned her head to find everyone looking at her.

"How'd it go?" John asked. She handed him the keys and he began to start up the car.

"Better than I expected," Charlie said with a small smile. "I'll explain when we get to Clay's, I need a second first."

John didn't press any further and shifted his focus on turning the car around. Charlie leaned back against the passenger's seat and closed her eyes. The long night was finally coming to an end.

Mable: Next chapter will be the final chapter of The Butcher's Traps and should be finished much quicker. I hope you enjoyed!