NiA/N: For those of you who aren't aware, the email bot is completely broken right now and, as far as I'm aware, still hasn't been fixed yet. That's the primary reason why I uploaded the chapter multiple times over the past week, as I wanted to test the email bot to see if it had been fixed. I was also concerned that several of my main reviewers who typically comment on this story without fail hadn't yet done so, and I was worried that they weren't aware that the story had actually been updated. Sorry if the multiple uploads ended up being annoying, I stopped once I got called out on it.
Anyways, Happy Halloween! I saw that a few reviewers posted ideas about what I should write for a Halloween chapter. I liked ThePencilDude's idea of having them visit the Haunted Forest in Utah. The problem is that I need to watch videos of places like these that I haven't been to yet so I can do my research and write the chapter, and I just couldn't find a good video on Youtube that showcased the Haunted Forest properly.
Fortunately, I was able to find another Utah haunted house…or rather haunted factory, that will serve quite well as an alternative. It's called the "Fear Factory Walk" in Salt Lake City, Utah. And I forced myself to watch a 25-minute video of people walking through a haunted house despite being a massive coward who hates haunted houses so I could write this chapter. You're welcome.
Chapter 194 – The Fear Factory Part 1
The Schmidt family heard no word from the Pizzaplex or Fazbear Entertainment over the next few months. They had diligently checked online for any sign that the Freddy Fazbear-themed entertainment complex was about to open, and while there were a few online advertisements that did promote the Pizzaplex to the wider public, there was no grand opening date or anything to suggest that it would be opened anytime soon. It was fairly obvious to everyone that the construction of the building itself had only been the first step in Fazbear Entertainment's plan to develop the Pizzaplex.
With no way forward for the time being, the Schmidts decided to enjoy life and take advantage of their free time while they still had it. Halloween was fast approaching, and Cassidy had discovered a haunted attraction in Salt Lake City called the Fear Factory that had gotten great reviews while online. She had eagerly shared this with the rest of her family, who all agreed to drive over there and explore this attraction. They had extended an invitation to the Marshalls to come with them, but sadly they had been planning a family vacation during that time and regretfully declined the invitation. Charlie had then offered the same invitation to Melody, who fortunately had amassed several days of paid time off and thus had the time to come with them to the Fear Factory.
Which is how the Schmidt family and Melody ended up riding on a uniquely painted spooky bus to the Fear Factory attraction in Salt Lake City. "I gotta say," Gabe remarked, "I didn't expect you to be a haunted house enthusiast, Melody."
Melody shrugged. "Not really an enthusiast per se, but I do enjoy going to a good haunted house sometimes. I haven't been to the Fear Factory before, it sounds pretty cool from what you guys told me," she replied, using the same telepathic link they always did whenever they were out in public
"Well, the initial pictures looked promising, but I'll wait until we actually go through the place before I pass judgment," Mike decided. "With all the shit I've been through, I've kinda been desensitized to horror stuff in general."
"I'm not," Susie replied with a shudder. "Some of that stuff still really scares me. And yeah, I know I'm a ghost, that doesn't make it any less spooky!"
"I guess it depends," Charlie mused. "If it's something like Nightmare on Elm Street…a supernatural serial killer murdering innocent children is a bit too real for me. Freddy Krueger's literally just William Afton except a lot more powerful and somehow even more evil."
Before anybody could make any further comments, the bus rode to a stop outside of a positively gigantic building. Everyone was taken by surprise by just how large the building was, making it abundantly clear that this was going to be much more than just a standard haunted house. "Oh man, there must be tons of spooky things inside this factory!" Gabe exclaimed excitedly as they got out of the bus.
Melody whistled. "I didn't do any research on this place before coming here, so this is the first time I'm seeing this."
"Now I'm more interested," Mike commented, sounding similarly impressed. The two living adults and several dead ghost kids passed underneath a metal gate that looked like it had been haphazardly crafted together with bits and pieces of scrap metal, with the words "Fear Factory" proudly blazoned on the very top of the gate.
"Oh, that reminds me!" Liz suddenly remembered something. "You guys DID buy tickets before you came here, right? I think I remember reading somewhere that you needed to buy tickets first before coming here or else they won't let you in."
Mike smirked. "Got it taken care of, Liz," he quickly reassured her. "Both for me and for Melody."
The group of adults and ghosts continued to walk down the road leading to the factory, at one passing underneath an ominous archway with a ghoulishly smiling Jack-o-Lantern carved on top of the arch. The wall of the arch to their left was actually showing a video of the inside of the lab, with several gears churning as the motionless silhouette of a corpse was being dragged through the air by a hook.
"You know, for a second I thought that this would just be a standard non-spooky mad scientist lab," Fritz remarked after seeing a second corpse being dragged. "But then I saw the dead body being carried through the air and realized that no, this is still a haunted house."
"House might not be the right word for it," Cassidy commented. "I don't think most houses have mad scientist labs."
The video of the factory's interior wasn't the only horror element outside of the factory. Even before they entered the actual building, there was a ghoul or two shambling around, leering at them as they passed by. They also passed by a half-human half-animal creature, with the body of a human and the skull and antlers of a deer and menacing fiery red eyes. The creature glared at them from its position but made no move to attack or scare them, simply unnerving them with its very presence.
"So, uh…was that supposed to be some kind of deformed science experiment gone horribly wrong?" Gabe wondered. "Or is that supposed to be a demon from Hell?"
"I think both things are possible," Melody answered, "but it's a bit too early to tell. I think we need to actually go inside the factory first."
"Fair enough," the former Freddy inhabitant acknowledged.
"Oh, by the way, for this haunted house attraction, I recommend that you guys actually stick close to us and try not to fly out towards things that you can see from a distance," Mike suggested. "It makes the experience more authentic. If you try to get to close to something to see what it is, it might ruin the immersion for you."
"That's actually not a bad idea," Charlie acknowledged. "Especially since this is meant to be a genuine horror attraction and not a fun ride with some horror themes like Disney's Haunted Mansion. We should try to experience this haunted factory the way a living person would."
The rest of her siblings agreed, although some did so more enthusiastically than others. After a few more minutes of walking, they finally made it to the inside of the factory. The interior was decidedly more ominous than the exterior, which had looked fairly innocuous outside of the menacing archway and the few Halloween creatures that they had seen. Once they were inside, Mike and Melody were directed by an employee to a staircase that led down into the depths of the factory. The walls around them looked as though they were made of pieces of metal haphazardly thrown together, contributing to the factory's derelict and unwelcoming atmosphere. The fact that the walls were lit up in a hellish orange light did not help matters in the slightest.
As they approached the bottom of the staircase, they could make out a passageway at the very bottom surrounded by cobwebs that crept down from the ceiling like stalactites or fangs. Right as they reached the passageway, though, a skeletal ghoul with a head full of deathly white hair wearing ragged robes suddenly lunged out of the passageway. "Gah!" Melody exclaimed, staggering backward as the ghoul shrieked and howled at her and Mike.
She wasn't the only one taken by surprise. "Eeeek!" Susie and Cassidy both shrieked in fear, while everyone else was at the very least startled by the monstrosity that had jumpscared them out of nowhere. The only one who wasn't noticeably disturbed was Mike.
"That wasn't the way forward!" Jeremy exclaimed. "It was just a trap!"
"I didn't think I was gonna get faked out like that right when we just started!" Susie pouted.
"I gotta hand it to them," Mike commented, sounding more impressed than anything else. "That was pretty clever. The ghoul itself was whatever, just standard haunted house stuff, but making it look like there was a clear path forward, only to psych people out by hiding a monster in it? That's actually a pretty original idea for a haunted house. Kudos to them for thinking outside the box."
"Yeah, yeah, but where exactly do we go if that's not the way?" Fritz wondered.
It turned out that the true way forward was ironically behind them, leading to a smaller passageway that was made of stone instead of metal, marked with several skulls and bones embedded into the walls. No monsters leapt at them for a while as they continued down the passageway, but everyone knew it was only a matter of time before something would leap out of the shadows to try and scare them.
Eventually, something would try to attack them, but it wasn't something any of them expected. A giant animated T-Rex skull suddenly popped out of a grotto, growling and roaring as though the dinosaur it had come from was still alive. This was followed almost immediately by a gaunt, skeletal hand breaking through a wall and grabbing at them a few seconds later. They could barely see a figure with a skeletal hand in the crack that he had just made in the wall.
"So, uh…nobody was expecting the giant undead T-Rex head to be one of the things to attack us in this factory, right?" Gabe asked once they had gotten over their shock.
"Giant T-Rex heads aren't exactly high up on most people's lists of favorite horror monsters," Melody deadpanned. "Skeletons are pretty standard, though."
"I like the idea they were going for, but they could've done more with it," Mike commented. "Maybe have some blood dripping out of the mouth, or give it the same glowing eyes that that one demon outside did."
"Still makes me wonder if that T-Rex came to life here because of mad science or necromancy," Liz mused. "Could be either or, I guess."
They continued down the stone hallway, where every so often a ghoul wearing rags would lunge at them from the hallway. Though they were certainly disheveled and hideous to look at, everyone could tell that these were humans wearing makeup over their face to make them look skeletal, and that made them less scary than the ghoul that had attacked them from the fake passageway.
Eventually, they reached the end of the hallway, crossing over a small wooden bridge, and found themselves in front of a locked metal door. A frenzied cascade of light was being shined all over the door, and they could hear ominous growls and roars from within. The door itself never opened to reveal any kind of monster, though, leaving the ghost kids to speculate on what was inside.
"Maybe it's some kind of evil science experiment gone horribly wrong," Jeremy suggested. "And it had to be locked up for everyone's own good."
"Nah, I think it's a demon," Fritz disagreed. "No way something born on Earth can make those kinds of sounds."
"We won't ever know," Cassidy remarked, "and that's probably a good thing."
Past the metal doorway, they could see a flight of stairs leading up to the next part of the Fear Factory. As they approached the stairs, they passed by a small room to the left with different pieces of furniture like tables and chairs thrown into disarray. They could also see another set of stairs like the one they were about to climb, although that set was cut-off and impossible for any visitor to reach.
At the top of the stairs, they found a large chamber glowing only in a midnight blue light, and to each side were several pieces of machinery typical of a large factory. It reminded the ghost kids a bit about the factory where the Special Delivery animatronics had been made, but unlike that factory, this one appeared completely abandoned. There was not a soul in sight, which only made this room more unnerving to look at.
"Where is everyone?" Susie muttered. "No ghouls around to attack us, or anything?"
"Sometimes, complete emptiness is the best way to go about horror," Mike sagely advised. "Especially when you know that something is out there waiting to scare or attack you. You know it's out there, you know it's coming, you just don't know when. And even if there isn't, there's something about a completely empty, abandoned space that can creep you out just by itself."
"You sure do know a lot about horror, Dad," Charlie remarked. "Though I guess that makes sense, since you actually lived it for a while. Technically still do if you count us ghosts as horror monsters."
Melody chuckled. "Maybe back then, but right now? You're some of the least horrifying ghosts I've ever seen in my life."
As soon as they finished traversing the room, they found themselves climbing back down another flight of stairs. Unlike the last set, however, this time they were met with the absolutely delightful sight of a man being hung from the ceiling whose entire bottom half of his body had been straight-up CUT OFF from his torso downward. His entrails could be clearly seen hanging from his sliced-open torso, and what made it even worse was that the man was STILL ALIVE, screaming in pain as he flailed helplessly in his chains that bound him to the ceiling. Everyone let out exclamations of horror and disgust, and even Mike couldn't completely hide his surprise this time around.
"Oh, what the hell is this?" Liz exclaimed in disbelief. "That is just messed up as hell!"
"Whoever came up with the idea of doing this to this guy was a sick fuck, that's for sure!" Fritz scowled.
"Yeah, that's just fucked up, plain and simple," Mike agreed. "Gonna have fun living with THIS mental image for a while."
The disturbing sights of this one staircase didn't end there, for as they climbed further down the stairs they saw a starved, gaunt prisoner locked in a large iron cage, followed by another disheveled and hideous ghoul who was clearly meant to be a factory worker leaping out and grabbing at them from the shadows.
"And the winner for the most messed up staircase in all of history goes to this one right here," Gabe deadpanned as they finally reached the bottom of the stairs.
It was almost a relief to find themselves in another hallway, this one being decidedly metal and not cavernous like the one they had been in before. The relief immediately stopped, however, when they found one gaunt prisoner in an isolated prison-like room being hideously tortured with electricity, his screams echoing throughout the hallway.
Liz gulped as flashbacks to being shocked as Circus Baby flashed through her mind. Charlie noticed her discomfort and put a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Are you all right?" She asked, clearly worried.
Liz nodded and steeled her nerves. "Yeah…just some bad memories. I'll be fine, though."
Charlie frowned but didn't push. "If you're sure."
They proceeded to the next chamber, which featured a disheveled lab worker standing in front of a giant human heart that was actively beating. The ghosts knew enough about basic human biology to know that the hearts of humans weren't actually shaped like valentine's day hearts, but it was still incredibly disturbing to see the actual organ itself in the flesh and in a much larger size, beating as though it were giving life to some kind of unseen monster. It didn't help matters that the lab worker was behaving like a deranged cultist, all but worshipping the heart and proclaiming how the heart needed to be given life. To the left of the heart was a dead corpse hanging from the ceiling, while to the right was a large metal gear turning over and over what looked disturbingly like a dismembered leg.
"That's a human heart, right?" Cassidy stared blankly at the heart. "Like…I'm not imagining this, am I?"
"Just…why?" Jeremy was more baffled than disturbed at the giant heart's existence. "Why does this thing even exist? Who thought creating a giant beating human heart was a good idea?"
"Who the fuck even knows," Mike deadpanned. "Half the time, the reason why mad scientists do mad science shit and break the rules of ethical science over their knees roughly boils down to why the hell not."
"This kinda reminds me of that one Contra shooting game I tried," Melody remarked, her voice tinged with nostalgia. "That was a classic video game way back then. The final boss was actually a giant beating heart, only it was an alien heart instead of a human one."
"Really?" Susie asked, fascinated. "That sounds really cool! How does a giant heart even attack, though?"
"Probably there's a bunch of smaller aliens around it protecting it, or some kind of defense mechanism in case it ever gets attacked," Gabe suggested.
They passed the giant heart human by, as well as another metal cage with another hapless test subject, this one shaking frenziedly as though it were in the middle of a violent seizure. The hallway afterwards actually didn't have any jumpscaring monsters but still contributed to the deranged and corrupted atmosphere of the factory, with the only creature inside it being a ghoul wrapped up in decrepit lab worker's clothes who guided them up yet another flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs, they found a hallway that had been plunged into darkness except for faint blue light peeking through parts of the wall that barely provided any visibility. It was so dark that they couldn't see the second ghoulish lab worker waiting for them, and this one did scream and leap at Melody and Mike from out of the darkness.
"Aaggghhhh!" Cassidy exclaimed as the ghoul laughed and beckoned them to go deeper into the hallway. "There was a second one at the top?"
"That one kinda caught me off guard too," Charlie admitted as the ghoul cackled. "The first one being relatively friendly lulled me into a false sense of security."
"It's not a bad tactic," Mike acknowledged. "Show them one monster that's friendly and harmless, so you can catch them by surprise when the second one shows up and scares you. The dark atmosphere of the hallway also helped with that too."
After scaring them, the ghoul directed them towards a narrow hallway where barrels of acid were hung from the ceiling and the walls, some of them with holes that dripped green liquid out of them represented by green paint that had been plastered over the lids and sides of the barrels.
"Geez, this factory really doesn't have a single clue how to keep even basic safety precautions up," Susie sarcastically commented.
"They're worse than Fazbear Entertainment, which is REALLY saying something," Jeremy agreed as he frowned disapprovingly at the acid barrels.
They passed under the barrels, and the room they entered next arguably had one of the most horrifying sights out of all the rooms and hallways they had seen in the Fear Factory so far. They were in a larger chamber again standing on a catwalk, and to their right was a pile of bones and skeletons. This would be disturbing enough, but it was nothing compared to the human carcass being hung upside-down from the ceiling by a single chain. The corpse had been completely flayed alive, its bloody innards and mangled flesh completely exposed for all of them to see. As if seeing a corpse covered in blood and gore wasn't horrific enough, multiple metal stakes and spikes had been jammed into the corpse from all directions. If they had known about the Hellraiser franchise, the ghost kids would have compared this to Pinhead, only with the carcass's entire body instead of just his head.
"Oh my God…" Melody breathed. "What the hell am I even looking at?"
Fritz retched. "That is one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen in my life," he groaned.
"This is somehow even worse than the stuff that WE went through," Liz mumbled. "And that's really saying a lot."
Charlie couldn't suppress a shudder as she beheld the flayed, mangled carcass. The last time she had seen a body this mutilated and tortured…was the night when Demon!Mike had hideously tortured William Afton's soul with all of his rage and hatred. And if it weren't for the fact that this body was very clearly a lifeless prop, the former Marionette inhabitant could honestly say that the state of this body was even worse than that of William Afton's mangled soul. "Okay, this I think is definitely the scariest thing I've seen in this factory so far," she declared. "No question."
"Did Nightmare somehow come up with this and secretly send it to the haunted house developers as an idea for the Fear Factory?" Cassidy asked a bit nervously.
"I dunno…" Jeremy grimly replied, "but I wouldn't put it past him to do something like this to damned souls on a regular basis."
Meanwhile in Hell…
"AH, BROTHER…" Nightmare Fredbear greeted Nightmare, his claws dripping with blood that he hadn't bothered to clean. "I'VE JUST FINISHED MY LATEST TORTURE SESSION FOR WILLIAM AFTON FOR THE DAY. WOULD YOU CARE TO EXAMINE MY HANDIWORK?"
"BUT OF COURSE," Nightmare replied smoothly. "LEAD THE WAY."
The two monstrous demon lords descended into their dungeons, where Nightmare Fredbear proudly displayed the fruits of his crafts.
William Afton's soul was dangling upside down from his jail cell by a black metal chain embedded with spikes that skewered into his flesh. His skin had been completely flayed from his bones, exposing his internal organs, bones, and muscles for everyone to see. The serial killer's corporeal soul was covered in blood and gore, and he was helplessly flailing and screaming in agony. That was only the start of Nightmare Fredbear's cruelty, as the golden bear demon lord had taken several heavy metal spikes and jammed them into William Afton from every possible angle, including his stomach, his heart, his arms, legs, and even through his eyes. "WHAT DO YOU THINK?" he asked.
Nightmare stroked his chin thoughtfully. "A FINE DISPLAY OF INFERNAL CRUELTY," he judged. "YOUR FLAYING TECHNIQUE WOULD MAKE NIGHTMARIONNE PROUD, THE WAY YOU'VE IMPALED HIS BODY IS METHODICAL AND THOROUGH WITH MULTIPLE SENSITIVE AREAS PROPERLY STABBED, AND HE IS CLEARLY IN ATROCIOUS AND HORRIFIC AGONY. OVERALL, I'D RATE THIS TORTURE SESSION A 9/10."
Nightmare Fredbear blinked. "ONLY A 9, BROTHER?" He asked. "WHAT STOPS YOU FROM DECLARING THIS A MASTERPIECE OF PERFECTION?"
Nightmare smirked. "THIS," he replied. The lord of the Nightmares snapped his claws, allowing a hellish ember to light on his fingers. He flicked the ember towards William Afton's body…and the grotesque mannequin that William Afton's soul had become was promptly lit on fire. Adding hideous immolation to the pile of torments he had already suffered.
Nightmare Fredbear smirked. "MY MISTAKE, BROTHER," was his only reply. And then the two demon lords bellowed in laughter as William Afton's agonized bellows and wails echoed off the walls of the dungeon, even louder than before.
Back on Earth…
"Let's not think about it, it probably can't be healthy for our minds," Liz declared, to the general agreement of everyone.
The group moved on to another metal hallway, where they passed by a hideous mutated ghoul working at a lab station with a computer and a map in front of him. Unlike the other ghouls, who despite their makeup were very clearly human in appearance, this one had a deformed, grotesque face with its mouth stretched impossibly wide in a horrific eternal smile and black eyes far larger than any human's. It didn't help that where most work stations would typically have a cup filled with stationary, this ghoul had a human skull serving as a stationary holder instead.
"Yeesh," Mike winced. "What the hell happened to this poor guy's face?"
"Some horrible accident?" Melody guessed. "Either that, or whoever's in charge of this factory actually mutated or experimented on this guy's face for some godforsaken reason."
"Whoever's in charge of this factory has a demented mind more fucked up than William Afton's!" Fritz declared. "And that's REALLY saying something!"
"Suddenly I don't mind having black voids with black tarry tears flowing out of my eyes sometimes," Jeremy mumbled.
They climbed up another flight of stairs into a metal hallway covered in a hellish orange glow, where a monstrous wraith leapt out of the shadows to attack them, stopped only by a metal fence blocking its path. The wraith clawed at the fence, shrieking ands creaming, as it fruitlessly attempted to assault anything that passed it by. Quite a few of the ghost kids let out gasps and yells of surprise, although Mike and Charlie were relatively unbothered by the surprise jumpscare. A few steps past the wraith, they found yet another captured human lab experiment, this one hung upside-down from the ceiling as it twitched and moaned helplessly.
"Well, look on the bright side I guess," Gabe smiled weakly. "At least this one isn't covered in blood and skewered by a bunch of metal spikes."
"That's really not much of an upside," Susie commented dryly.
They passed by another ghoulish worker with a deformed pig's head (something that looked almost tame compared to some of the horrors they had witnessed earlier), as well as a deformed human leg that had been mounted on a metal wall. The leg was larger than any leg any of them had ever seen still attached to a human, and it was bizarrely wearing a high-heel over its foot.
"What kind of sick bastard thinks that mounting an amputated human leg on a wall as a decoration is a good idea?" Melody questioned, looking more bemused than anything else. "Does whoever run this factory think that they're going to be wowing visitors by how cool and beautiful this looks?"
"I don't think whoever the head of this factory is gets a lot of guests," Charlie pointed out.
"Not any guests who want to be here, anyway," Susie muttered.
They climbed yet another flight of stairs (having lost count of how many flights they'd climbed up or down at this point), where a disheveled ghoulish worker with red hair was proudly displaying a hapless human subject trapped in a straightjacket being hung from the wall. Its face was forever stretched open in an eternal grin, seizing and shaking like a deranged beast as it struggled to free itself.
"I feel so bad for these poor people," Cassidy murmured sympathetically. "They didn't deserve to be captured, experimented on, and tortured like this."
"It could always be worse," Liz pointed out. "I'd rather be this guy than that other guy who got flayed and stabbed with a bunch of metal spikes."
"At this point, you really have to wonder whether this is really any better than suffering in Hell," Mike commented. "Ignoring the fact that torture in Hell lasts forever, I guess it depends on how evil of a person you were and how horrible your punishment is in Hell."
On that last darkly philosophical note, they entered a narrow metal hallway where they could actually see outside into Salt Lake City itself through a window. The ghosts all gasped as they realized just how high they were up, as they could see the tops of the buildings brightly lit in the far distance.
"Did we really climb that high up?" Gabe asked in wonder. "We must be near the top of the factory with how we've climbed!"
Before anyone could answer, their view of Salt Lake City's skyscrapers was immediately ruined by a ghoul worker who lunged at them, striking the metal fence with an electric rod that zapped with sparks.
"Aww come on, man!" Fritz protested, more annoyed than frightened. "We were enjoying such a good view!"
"What an ass," Melody grumbled, earning a harsh bout of laughter from the ghoul who was clearly pleased at eliciting such an annoyed reaction from her.
"Okay, I can't really enjoy the view with this guy banging on the fence," Charlie muttered. "Let's just move on."
They proceeded into the next room, where they found themselves at the very top of the chamber walking on a metal catwalk, where they could look down into the factory room itself. They were too high above to make out most of the details (and the ghosts weren't going to go down to get a closer look since Mike had recommended them not to), but they were greeted with the very pleasant sight of a shroud where the silhouette of a devilish figure with bat wings and demonic horns protruding from its head could be seen skulking about behind it.
"Okay, there's some kind of demonic influence in this factory," Jeremy declared. "That pretty much proves it. There's no way humans can be this fucked up without some kind of evil hellish influence in this factory."
"Humans are capable of doing horrible shit to each other without demons getting involved," Mike pointed out. "You should know that better than anyone else. And technically, it could just be a deformed animal-human monstrosity created from an evil experiment hiding behind that curtain." But his tone of voice was filled with doubt, making it clear that he didn't believe the last statement that he had just made.
"I bet we're gonna find some demonic ritual in this factory somewhere," Cassidy muttered. "This starting to get into supernatural territory right here."
They made it to the end of the catwalk, where two ghouls directed them down a flight of metal stairs. Halfway down the climb, they were treated to the sight of a human figure being strapped to a metal table straight out of the Frankenstein movies.
"Does Frankenstein count as fantasy or sci-fi horror?" Gabe wondered.
"A bit of both," Melody replied. "The core mechanics of that story are based on science, but Frankenstein's monster is arguably a supernatural creature since real-life science hasn't been able to actually bring back someone from the dead. At least, not outside of hospital codes where the person just died and it's still possible to bring them back if you act quickly enough."
"I think that's a fair answer," Liz decided. "It's not like Dracula where vampires are clearly 100% supernatural."
The end of the stairs led them not to the room where they had seen the demonic silhouette behind the curtain, but instead to the infirmary, where they were treated to the most deranged mini-hospital that any of them had ever seen. The ghost kids remembered the clean and orderly hospital that Mike had stayed in after having his arm broken by Toy Bonnie, and the infirmary couldn't have been any more different if it actively tried. Ignoring the filthy and dilapidated state of the infirmary itself, everyone was reasonably confident that most infirmaries didn't have humans shackled and trapped in what looked like a large fish tank glowing with a sickly green light. They were also confident that most operating rooms didn't have multiple patients strapped to metal beds while a ghoul with a permanent scowl on his face covered in dried blood lunged at anybody unfortunate enough to get close to the operating room window.
"Ack!" Jeremy exclaimed as the ghoul snarled at them from the operating room window. "I wasn't expecting to see a ghoul this ugly show up!"
"Definitely one of the creepier ghouls here," Liz agreed.
Charlie glanced at her father. "What would you do if you learned that you needed to stay in this infirmary, Dad?" she asked curiously.
"Assuming that you guys weren't around to be my family? Immediate suicide by any and all means possible, I'd rather die than stick around here," Mike flatly responded without any hesitation whatsoever.
"There's signs that say High Voltage and Explosives here!" Susie exclaimed. "Who puts freaking high voltage electricity and explosions inside a hospital room?"
"There's specific devices in hospitals that need high voltage electricity," Melody explained. "But yeah, I don't know why the hell this infirmary has freaking EXPLOSIVES in it. That just doesn't make any goddamn sense."
"If I was trapped here and this was a real horror factory instead of a haunted house attraction, I'd find those explosives and blow the fuck up out of the factory," Mike declared. "Go down like a hero instead of ending up like one of those poor fucks being tortured that we've seen."
"Amen to that!" Charlie agreed. "Pull a Michael Afton and end the nightmare once and for all, right?"
"You said it!" Liz agreed fervently.
The scowling ghoul doctor pointed them down a narrow, cramped circular tunnel with rags and old fabrics creeping down from the walls and ceiling, making the tunnel look like a mix between a spider's web and someone's intestines.
The room they entered next was downright satanic in appearance. To their right, they could see a classic red devil underneath an ominous chandelier that wouldn't have looked out of place in a hellish temple, while to their left was a second figure bisected from the waist down being grabbed by a shadowy monster, their face eternally screaming in agony as they were forever held over a pile of corpses that looked suspiciously like they had been sacrifices to the demons in the chamber.
"Uh, guys?" Fritz mumbled. "I think at this point there's definitely demons in this factory. We can't argue that this is all just sci-fi horror stuff anymore."
"I think you're right," Gabe reluctantly agreed. "The demons in this room feel like a different kind of evil than all the mad science stuff we've seen so far."
"It's kinda fascinating to see this mix of sci-fi and fantasy horror, in a morbid sort of way," Melody remarked. "You don't see a lot of haunted house attractions mix the two together. It's kind of…I don't know if refreshing is the right word for it, but it feels unique."
"It was definitely worth coming here," Cassidy declared. "I wouldn't say everything here was necessarily scary, but it's definitely creepy and, like Melody said, it was really fascinating in a dark way."
They proceeded to the next hallway, which was made of smooth stone looked more like a hallway in a Victorian Mansion instead of a factory. It reminded them of Disney's Haunted Mansion, and even had a picture frame featuring a beautiful Victorian lady hung from the right…which immediately slid down to reveal a ghost in an unearthly white robe. They also got a closer look at the red devil that they had seen earlier, positioned next to a coffin whose lid occasionally popped open and shut, as though there were an unknown monster trying to break out.
"It really feels like we're switching from mad science to supernatural horror at this point," Charlie remarked. "I guess we've really left the mad science stuff behind."
"Don't be too sure," Melody countered as they entered the next hallway. "It could switch back to mad science and sci-fi horror at any time."
For now, though, it appeared that the hallways now focused primarily on the classic haunted mansion theme, with more pictures of old-fashioned and finely dressed men and women on the walls contrasting sharply with broken wooden pieces of furniture such as chairs and tables thrown haphazardly together in piles.
They also finally got a good look at the demonic creature they had seen behind the curtain earlier, this time in its full unholy glory. The demon itself looked like an unholy priest, as it was wearing ragged holy robes and holding some sort of sacrificial cup in its hand. The demon was chanting an unholy incantation as it offered prayers in an inhuman language, though there was little doubt as to who he was worshipping.
"Well, I had a feeling we were gonna see a demonic ritual," Susie admitted. "I didn't think the demon would actually be the one doing it, though."
"They really did a good job making these demon animatronics," Jeremy complimented.
Fritz snorted. "Eh, Nightmare's still scarier," he nonchalantly commented. "Do you remember the first time he showed up?"
Melody shook her head. "I still can't believe you're on friendly terms with a demon lord straight from the depths of Hell," she remarked with a frown. "If I didn't know you guys well, I'd honestly be very concerned."
"You probably should still be concerned," Charlie admitted. "Even if he's still a better person than 99% of demons both in horror movies and in real life, he's still thoroughly evil in most ways."
They passed the demonic priest and entered into a room glowing with an unholy orange light that truly represented the "ancient haunted Victorian mansion" theme more than any other chamber in the Fear Factory. To one side there was a large China cabinet with finely crafted wineglasses and plates, while on the other side. there was an elegant fireplace with two razor-sharp swords proudly displayed above it. A ghoulish butler greeted them sinisterly in the room, wearing a fancy black suit that contrasted sharply with his pale white face, save for the black tears pouring out of his eyes. To complete the unholy atmosphere, yet another horned demonic monstrosity was growling and snarling next to the fireplace.
"I bid you welcome to our humble abode," the butler greeted them in a chilling deep voice. "Have you enjoyed your journey thus far? The night is not yet over and done with. We still have quite a few frights and delights left to show you."
"This butler gives me the creeps," Gabe muttered. He hadn't missed how the black tears flowing down the butler's face were eerily similar to his and his siblings' faces when they got particularly agitated. "I can't tell if this guy is an experiment or a cultist or a demon or what."
"So whoever runs this demented factory also worships demons and lets them run around his mansion," Cassidy observed. "I think we've found someone who can compete with William Afton in the sick fuck category."
"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think the mad scientist running this factory is even more evil than Afton," Charlie admitted, as much as she hated to say it. "William Afton did a lot of fucked up shit, don't get me wrong, but he didn't worship Satan or cut people in half while stringing them from the ceiling and keeping them barely alive by torturing them with electricity over and over again."
"At least they're not Hitler?" Susie interjected half-jokingly.
"Being better than the most immoral, depraved, and sociopathic leader in all of human history isn't exactly a shining accomplishment of morality worthy of an award," Melody deadpanned.
The unnatural butler gestured down a hallway leading away from the hellish living room. "Proceed, for your journey is not yet complete."
The Schmidt family and Melody glanced at each other, before proceeding down the hallway that the butler had pointed at. The Fear Factory so far had already provided countless spooky sights and ghastly displays, covering both science fiction and fantasy horror alike.
And with how much they had already been impressed by what they had seen, they were all eager to see what else lurked within the dark depths of the Fear Factory.
/
A/N: This was originally meant to be only one chapter, just in time for Halloween. But the notes I took for the Fear Factory video ended up being over 6 pages by themselves, and translating just 3 of them to a proper MNGF chapter ended up being 14 pages. There's just no way for me to fit everything on the Fear Factory in one page, so this is going to be a 2 part chapter instead.
I hope you enjoyed this first half of the Schmidt family's journey through the Fear Factory! I figured that it would get boring if I just wrote the ghost kids yelling in fear over and over again, so instead I had the Schmidt family provide their own commentary on the various displays of fright and horror in the Fear Factory so that the chapter stayed interesting and read-worthy. The horror displays described in this chapter are based on actual sights and displays within the Fear Factory itself, so apart from some minor liberties here and there everything you're seeing here are things that are actually IN the Fear Factory in Utah. It was also a good opportunity for me to bring Melody back into the picture. I was originally going to have the Marshalls instead, but I'm saving them for another chapter in the near future instead.
I'll try to get the second half of this arc in by next week so I can round it off nicely right after Halloween, but I apologize in advance if I fail to do so. The next few months are going to be quite busy, I can tell you that right now.
Hope you guys enjoyed, and Happy Halloween!
