Aiden Cooper was scared. He, along with some other Playtime Co. employees, was hiding in the maintenance section of the factory's Playcare sector. Neither he nor any of the other employees knew what the hell was going on. Aiden was only 27 years old, 5'9, with short brown hair, hazel eyes, slightly tanned skin, and stubble facial hair growing on his face. He had only worked as a maintenance technician at the factory for the past few months, assigned to the Playcare area, helping keep the machines and lights running. He made a few pals with his coworkers, for the most part enjoying his time at the factory despite some of the more bizarre things he was aware of.
Aiden looked over the group he was with. It consisted of 5 other playtime employees he didn't know and 16 children from the Playcare orphanage. Then there were the final 2 members of the group, Hoppy Hopscotch and KickinChicken of the Smiling Critters. They weren't people in costumes acting as mascots; they were real nonhuman creatures who worked at the factory. Hoppy and Chicken were significantly taller than all the humans in the group, both having the physical characteristics of their cartoon counterparts save for the big, fixed smiles on their faces. The first of the Smiling Critters Aiden met was Dogday, who accidentally spooked Aiden from behind when he tried to introduce himself. Aiden was initially unnerved by them, but he warmed up to them better than other employees after a while.
Hoppy and Chicken were trying to comfort the scared children, the ones they managed to save. It happened out of nowhere. It started when Aiden was in the school fixing some of the lights. One of the school office employees came up to him asking if he could take a look at the computer in her office when the emergency alarms went off. Neither of them knew what was going on, so when one of the Miss Delight teachers showed up, they tried to ask her what was happening. Miss Delight immediately struck the office employee in the head, causing her to fall to the floor, then followed up with repeated blows until the woman's head caved in, and she was dead. Then Miss Delight lunged at Aiden, pinning him against the wall. Thankfully, she wasn't much stronger than a human, so Aiden was able to hold her back for a bit, even managing to stab her in the eye with his screwdriver, but the crazed teacher didn't relent, even trying to bite at his face.
Aiden was saved when Bubba Bubbaphant, who also worked as a teacher in the school, arrived and smashed Miss Delight's head against the wall, killing her. Bubba told him that they had to escape just as CraftyCorn arrived with three of the children and some blood spatter on her from another Miss Delight. Aiden was too shocked to argue, so he went with them to meet up with the other smiling critters. Along the way, Aiden learned what was happening, that the toys in the factory were going wild and killing everyone they could find.
They met up with the other smiling critters in the maintenance wing of Playcare, along with some other human employees and children. Dogday devised a plan for the humans to remain in the maintenance wing while he and the other smiling critters left to find more survivors and fight the other toys. Before leaving, Dogday had Hoppy and Chicken stay behind to protect the children and other humans, and they have been gone for about an hour now.
Aiden's mind was racing with thoughts on today's events. He couldn't get what happened with Miss Delight out of his head. He always found the Miss Delights creepy, mainly their smiles, but they were always friendly and polite. Seeing one of them murder a woman out of nowhere and try to kill him was something he never saw coming. "I knew those fucking things would go crazy one day!" Aiden turned his head to one of the other employees, Rick, one of the factory's security guards. Rick was one of the employees Aiden hoped he wouldn't see. Mainly due to the fact that he considered Rick to be a prick and on top of that, he and some of the other guards were known to abuse the Smiling Critters from time to time. "This is what happens when you make freaks of nature! How do we know those fucking things won't go crazy too!" Rick finished looking over at Hoppy and Chicken. If either of them heard Rick, they didn't do anything to suggest it.
That comment irked Aiden. "Hey, they brought us here to protect us!" he countered, "Why don't you put some trust in them?" Aiden was always friendly with the smiling critters, even though it took him some time to get used to them. He didn't like it when he heard some of the other guys in maintenance say bad things about them or when security mistreated them.
Rick turned to Aiden with a stern glare, "fuck you! We wouldn't be in this situation if it wasn't for them! That fucking smiling cat killed all my friends!"
Aiden knew Rick was talking about Catnap. Aiden had never met Catnap but knew of him from the other smiling critters. He even heard of that scandal with the Catnap dolls, which ended with them being recalled entirely. From what he heard, Catnap was kept in a secure part of the Playcare section of the factory, but he didn't know why. Aiden was going to respond, but then a feminine voice interrupted them. "Would you keep it down!" Aiden turned to see Hoppy walking over to them. The 7-foot green rabbit towered over them, walking up next to Aiden, her eyes fixed on Rick. "The kids are scared enough without you mouthing off!" Aiden looked over at Chicken, who was trying to calm the children down. Some of them had started crying after hearing Rick's outburst.
Even though Hoppy's face was made to always have a wide smile, Aiden could tell she was angry, the top edges of her eyes slightly shifted into a frown. Rick, on the other hand, didn't care, "Go to hell! We have bigger problems to worry about than those brats! Like your psycho cat friend trying to kill everyone!"
Hoppy got angrier, taking an aggressive step toward Rick. "Catnap is not my friend! He never was! Now shut your mouth, or I'll drag you out and throw you to that cat!" This time, Rick got worried, backing down and slowly walking to a corner of the room. With Rick taken care of, Hoppy calmed down and returned to help Chicken with the kids. Aiden and the other surviving employees let out a sigh of relief that the situation had de-escalated. Aiden had never seen Hoppy get so aggressive, even when the guards mistreated her and the other Smiling Critters.
The room became quiet again, and none of the adults talked much, given the gravity of the situation. Hoppy and Chicken had calmed the children down, most having fallen asleep with the smiling critters watching over them. With nothing else to do, Aiden walked over to them, careful not to wake any kids. Seeing Aiden, Chicken addressed him, "Hey, Aiden." KickenChicken's voice sounded like that of an older teen or young adult, probably to help with his image of being the cool kid of the critters.
"How is everyone?" Aiden asked, sitting in an open space on the floor next to Chicken.
"Better now that they're asleep," Chicken said, putting his hand on a sleeping eight-year-old boy. Hoppy held a girl no older than seven, gently rocking her in her arms to soothe her. "I just wish we could have gotten more out." Chicken finished grimly.
"Jesus, they're going after the kids too!?" Aiden figured the rampaging toys were sick of working for Playtime Co, but he didn't think they would go after the children.
"Yeah, we saw Catnap use his smoke to put some of them to sleep. I'm not sure what he's going to do to them."
"Do either of you know why this is happening? This started out of nowhere."
Chicken and Hoppy looked at one another, Aiden feeling the unease from the two smiling critters. After several more tense moments, the toys looked at Aiden. Hoppy was about to speak when they heard something. Right away, Hoppy and Chicken stood up. Hoppy put the girl she held down, and they both faced the doors. Aiden and the other employees backed away from the doors, the kids getting up with the smiling critters telling them to stay back. Everyone heard the heavy sounds of footsteps approaching, Chicken and Hoppy tensing up as they got closer. "Chicken..." A low, raspy voice uttered from the other side of the door, "Hoppy..." Red smoke began leaking through the door's cracks, "Come out and play. You can't hide from me!" Just then, a purple mass broke down the doors, having the same wide smile and black eyes as Chicken and Hoppy.
Aiden and everyone else looked on in fear at the arrival of Catnap, the slender purple feline toy standing on his four limbs with his tail dragging behind him. He regarded his fellow Smiling Critters first before noticing the humans in the room; Aiden's heart raced when the murderous toy looked over at him and the other employees. "And you've been hiding things from me! Naughty!"
When it seemed like Catnap was about to pounce, KickenChicken got between him and the humans, having his arms raised to fight. "Stay away from them, Catnap!"
"Heretic!" Catnap shouted, raising his right hand and brandishing his claws to swipe at Chicken. Chicken dodged the swing, lunging forward and punching Catnap in the face. The purple toy hissed, retaliating by striking Chicken with his left arm, sending him across the room into the wall. Hoppy made her move, rushing Catnap, who tried to eviscerate her with his claws. Hoppy jumped over the attack, landing on Catnap's back hard, making him lay flat on the floor. Catnap hissed, rolling over to get Hoppy off him. Hoppy fell; before she could get up, he kicked her in the chest, sending her sliding away.
"FUCK THIS!" Rick made a brake for the door, shoving one of the other employees aside as he ran. Catnap noticed, about to pounce, but just then, KickenChicken jumped onto his back and started punching his head repeatedly, allowing Rick to get away.
'So much for Security!' Aiden thought as he saw Rick run without looking back. His attention was returned to the fight when Catnap pulled Chicken off and slammed him onto the floor. The wind knocked out of him; Chicken couldn't get up fast enough before Catnap stabbed him in the gut with his claws, drawing blood. "Chicken!" Aiden shouted, the situation looking worse by the minute.
"NO!" Hoppy came running, jumping, and dropkicking Catnap, knocking him into the wall. Catnap quickly recovered his attention, drawn by the cries of the children huddled nearby. "Sleep!" He began spewing red smoke out of his mouth, the sleeping agent quickly sweeping over the children, putting them to sleep in seconds.
"Jesus Christ!" Aiden said, standing there while the rest of the employees took the opportunity to escape. Hoppy had managed to pull the injured KickenChicken away from Catnap, the front of his body stained red with blood.
Aiden ran over to them, and Hoppy turned to him. "Aiden, you have to get out of here!" she said, her voice as serious as could be.
"What about you!? You can't fight Catnap by yourself!"
"Just worry about yourself! You can't help us here! Get the hell out of this place!" Before she could say more, Catnap turned his attention back to them.
"You can't defy the will of a god!" Catnap started taking a pouncing stance. "The Prototype's will is final!"
Aiden never heard of the Prototype before, but there was no time for questions as Hoppy and Catnap went at it, the bunny toy jumping over the cat's attacks, using hit and run tactics to fight Catnap. Aiden didn't know what to do. He didn't want to abandon them but knew he couldn't help. Just then, KickenChicken nudged Aiden's leg with his arm, using the other to apply pressure to his wound. "Aiden... Just run, and thanks for being kind to us." He finished giving the human a thumbs-up before his body went limp.
Aiden stared at KickenChicken's body for a few seconds before his legs started moving, leaving Hoppy to fight Catnap. The alarm was still going off in the background, drowning out the sounds of fighting behind him as he got further away. As he ran down the maintenance halls, he passed by dead bodies covered in blood, not having any time to think about it, and just focused on escaping. He needed to get to the trolly in the center of Playcare to get to the upper levels, so that's where he was going. He turned a corner and ran into someone going the other way.
Both humans collided, falling backward in opposite directions. Recovering, Aiden sat up, seeing that it was Rick who was awfully pissed at Aiden. "The fuck are you doing!?"
"I'm trying to get out of here; no thanks to you!" Aiden stood up, not happy to see Rick again after he ditched the rest of the group. "Where's everyone else?"
"Dead, and I'm not stick around to-" Before Rick could finish, a red furry block came from behind and engulfed Rick's upper body in its mouth. Rick was bitten in half, his lower body dropping to the floor with some of his guts spilling, making Aiden want to vomit. The red block retracted back to its body, Aiden seeing that it was Boxy Boo, blood dripping from his mouth and claws. The toy stood in the middle of a group of bodies that Aiden recognized as the other survivors he was with minutes before Catnap's attack. Boxy's body wobbled on the springs that connected his feet to his body, and the human saw the murderous intent in his beady black eyes.
"Oh, shit!" Aiden turned around and ran, Boxy's head lunging forward to bite him but missing by a few inches. The toy gave chase, Aiden hearing his animalistic roars and squeaking of his springs. Thankfully, Boxy wasn't that fast, mainly relying on his extendable limbs to swipe at Aiden, who was always just out of reach. Aiden reached a pair of metal doors, bursting through them, shutting and locking them behind him as Boxy ran into them. Aiden fell backward as Boxy rammed the doors, making a noticeable dent, shrieking as he tried to break through. Aiden stood up and walked backward, praying that Boxy wouldn't get through, and after a minute, the toy seemed to give up and left, leaving Aiden alone with his thoughts. "Fuck me!" Aiden breathed, his heart settling down, his hands trembling as he didn't know what to do now. The only way he knew of to get to the trolley was in that direction, but between Catnap and Boxy, there was no way Aiden would make it.
Aiden turned around, intending to find another way out, stopping as she saw several more bodies of his coworkers. They were other members of the maintenance team, their bodies stained with blood that reflected the dim yellow emergency lights in the room. He was in one of the generator rooms that powered Playcare, and some of the electrical instruments were damaged by whatever happened there. Aiden got closer to the bodies, seeing that the wounds they had were too small to have been made by toys like Catnap and Boxy. Seeing many bite marks all over the bodies, they looked like they were made by something much smaller. Taking a deep breath, Aiden pressed on, stepping over the corpses, not wanting to stick around for whatever made them.
Aiden found another set of doors, sighing in relief that they were unlocked. He touched the door handle when he heard childlike laughter behind him. Turning around, Aiden saw something small crawling on the floor. It was one of the mini critters, this one looking like PickyPiggy as it crawled on all fours towards him. Aiden opened the door to get out, and right as he did so, the mini critter lunged at him, grabbing and biting into his thigh. "Ahh!" Aiden shouted, pulling the critter off him and slamming it on the concrete floor. He then stomped on its head several times, and each time, the critter let out a pained squeal before it died. Aiden placed his hand on the bite wound, bringing it up to his face and seeing his blood all over his palm. "Shit!" Aiden knew he had to tend to the wound, or he might get an infection or possibly bleed out. He then heard more childlike laughter, seeing more mini critters coming out into the open to get him. Aiden quickly went through the door and slammed it shut behind him, wedging a nearby metal pole through the handles to keep the doors from opening.
Aiden continued slowly, his leg wound making walking a real pain. He ripped off his shirt sleeve, wrapping it around his thigh to staunch the bleeding. It wasn't much, but it'd have to do for now. Passing through several corridors, Aiden found himself in the gas production zone. He had never been in this part of Playcare before since he didn't have clearance, but from what he heard, this is where the company produced the sleep agent that was used to put the children to sleep during the night, something that never sat right with Aiden. Looking around, he spotted an exit sign hanging from the ceiling, and he made his way down the hallway until he reached the exit.
Slowly opening the door, Aiden peaked out to look for any danger, and what he saw made his blood run cold. The main center of Playcare was littered with bodies. All over, the corpses of the various employees who worked in Playcare stained the ground with blood. "J-Jesus Christ!" Aiden said under his breath. He was starting to believe he was the only survivor at this point, the only human survivor anyway. He was still uncertain of what happened to the smiling critters. Aiden knew Chicken was dead but didn't know about Hoppy, Dogday, or the rest of them.
Shaking his head, Aiden refocused on the task of escaping. As luck would have it, the Gas Production Zone entrance was right next to the trolly station, meaning Aiden might just make it out of this. Not seeing any threats, stepped out the door, not going more than a few feet before a noise stopped him. It was Catnap. The purple feline toy was wandering around the Playcare center looking for survivors, picking up a corpse with his mouth and throwing it aside. 'Shit! Hoppy didn't make it!' Aiden thought, staying where he was as Catnap hadn't spotted him yet. That changed when Aiden accidentally kicked a soda can on the ground, causing Catnap to turn around and spot him. "Fuck!" Aiden turned around, Catnap sprinting right for him and rushing back into the Gas Production Zone, slamming the door behind him.
"Fuck me!" Aiden said, heading back to the main room of the Gas Production Zone, where the large gas control terminal was. He didn't know what to do now. That was his best chance of escape; now, he didn't know how to escape. It seemed Catnap didn't try getting through the door, probably because he was too big to fit through, Leaving Aiden some time to think of something.
As Aiden paced back and forth, he heard the voice of someone he knew. "Aiden?"
Aiden turned to see Dogday arrive through one of the large doors. "Holy shit, Dogday!?" Aiden approached the toy, who collapsed as soon as Aiden got close. "Dogday!" Now up close, Aiden could see how injured Dogday was, the toy having claw marks on his chest, arms, and legs, staining his orange-yellow fabric skin with blood. "Dogday, what happened?"
Dogday rolled on his side, propping himself on his left arm and placing his right hand on his chest wounds. "C-Catnap ambushed us," he explained, sounding sad. "He killed Crafty and Picky. Bubba distracted him so Bobby and I could get away, and then Boxy attacked. I barely managed to escape." Dogday looked to Aiden with a bit of hope in his void eyes. "Where's Chicken and Hoppy?"
A grim look overtook Aiden. "They... went out fighting Catnap..." Aiden's head hung low, and guilt crept into his stomach. "There was nothing I could do..."
Dogday's head dropped, "Then I'm all that's left." His voice was filled with dread, "I'm... the last Smiling Critter..." Those words hung heavy in the air. Aiden didn't know what to say. He lost all his coworkers, but they weren't his family like the other critters were to Dogday. Hell, Aiden never had a family to begin with, having been an orphan until he was old enough to be on his own. It was the main reason he wanted to work at Playtime Co because of their initiative to help orphans though after he started working at the factory, he began having doubts about their claims to help children.
There was silence for a few minutes before Aiden spoke again. "Come on," he kneeled, grabbing Dogday's arm to help him. We can still get out of here. The trolly isn't far."
"I don't know if I'll make it out of here. I'll just slow you down." Dogday responded in a defeated tone.
"Damn it, I've already seen enough people die! You got to try!" Aiden tugged on Dogday's arm, trying to get him moving. Soon enough, Dogday had it in himself to get up, giving Aiden a quick apology before they headed together to find another exit.
Before they could get anywhere, Catnap arrived through a nearby door, gas seeping out his mouth upon spotting Dogday. Dogday quickly pushed Aiden behind him, taking a fighting stance while Catnap stopped where he was on the other side of the room. "Stay back, Catnap!" Dogday warned, Aiden backing away, looking around, seeing an elevator behind him.
"You can't defy the Prototype's will," Catnap started, more gas escaping his mouth, "The others were heretics, but you can still prove yourself to him."
"That thing isn't a god, and it's no one friend! You have to stop listening to it!" Dogday tried to reason with his former friend.
"The Prototype saved me when he could have fled. He spoke to me when no one else would, and he's helping all of us achieve freedom."
"That thing isn't helping anyone! It's using you! It's killing everyone! This has to stop!"
Catnap growled, "If you won't obey then you will suffer!"
"Aiden, run!" Dogday shouted as Catnap charged him.
Aiden turned around, rushing to the elevator. He found a large button on the safety rail and pushed it, making the elevator go up. As Aiden went up, he watched Dogday and Catnap fighting below. Dogday became pinned to the floor, his wounds having weakened him, and was now at Catnap's mercy. Catnap blasted him with a burst of gas to the face; Dogday tried to resist the effects but to no avail and passed out. Dogday subdued, Catnap looked up, seeing Aiden getting away, and began climbing the fence surrounding the elevator. Before the toy could reach Aiden, the elevator reached the next level, cutting Catnap off from him.
Soon, the elevator stopped, and Aiden stepped off, cursing. "Fuck! God damn it!" Aiden shouted, looking around, and he walked through the narrow halls, his leg wound still bothering him with the torn sleeve now red with his blood. He was Screwed! Dogday was gone, Catnap was after him, and he didn't have a clue where he was. In a minute, Aiden reached what he assumed was a power control room. There were several green slots around a terminal for the company's large green batteries, but he didn't have any of those. Just then, a large hatch in the ceiling began opening, a bright yellow light shining down from it as though he were being offered salvation. Aiden got closer to see what it was, only for whatever hope he had left to die horribly when he saw what it was.
Catnap dropped down from the hatch, landing on all fours before Aiden. The human fell backward, crawling away on the floor until he reached a crate with nowhere to run. Catnap slowly approached, hissing at the cowering human, readying his claws to slice him to ribbons. Aiden shielded himself with his arms, bracing for the inevitable, internally cursing that he ever got a job here.
Catnap swung his hand, his claws cutting through the crate like butter, but the human had vanished. "What!?" Catnap hissed, seeing the human disappear like smoke before he could finish him off. The toy looked around, not seeing anything telling him where the human had gone. Slightly startled, Catnap gave up his pursuit, needing to return to Dogday to punish him before he awoke. "Human, it's your lucky day," the cat remarked.
In the middle of the woods, a young boy was exploring by himself. He was an adventurous lad with dreams of seeing more of the world when he was older. His hometown was close; he lived alone with his mother and had no father or siblings. He sometimes felt lonely due to not having friends, though he tried not to let it get to him. He loved his mother but wished his dad was still around and only had the sun pendant attached to the orange collar around his neck to remember him by.
The boy continued exploring for some time, the sun beginning to go down in the distance. He intended to go back but spotted someone lying on the ground next to the creek. "Huh?" The boy approached the stranger, curiosity getting the better of him as he had not seen a creature like him before, and many different species lived in his hometown. The stranger's clothing looked ragged, his shirt sleeve appearing to have been torn off. The only fur he seemed to have was on his head, which was probably why he needed clothes, unlike the boy who had fur to keep him warm and covered.
Now close, the boy bent down, placing a hand on the stranger's shoulder, and gently shook him. "Huh, mister, are you alright?"
Aiden started to come to, his mind hazy, uncertain of what had happened. Did Catnap knock him out? Why? Aiden thought the toy wanted to kill him, so why take him alive? He heard the voice of a kid and felt a hand shake him. It must be one of the Playcare orphans. Did this kid save him from Catnap? How? There was no way Catnap should have had any problems with a kid.
Groaning, Aiden slowly opened his eyes and saw that he was lying on grass, sunlight shining down on him. Was he outside? 'There's no way.' Aiden thought, lifting himself on his forearms. "Are you okay, mister?"
Aiden shook his head, hearing that voice, and turned to the left. His eyes stopped at a pair of feet covered in orange fur standing on the grass. Aiden slowly turned his head up, seeing more of the multi-orange creature, including its furry tail and familiar sun pendant. His eyes stopped at the creature's face, the kid looking at him with big emerald green eyes, a pair of large floppy ears on top of his head, a canine black nose above his mouth with visible teeth inside. Looking over the kid's body a few times, there was only one name that came to mind. "D-Dogday?"