Map Needed
Gregory clutched Bonnie tight as he ran, ran, ran away from the monsters that prowled the dark. The twisted beasts that once claimed friendly faces now wanted nothing more than to tear him apart. The ground shook and then stopped and something whistled overhead. He screamed as Monty landed before him, his umber eyes glowing in the darkness and glinting off his shiny glasses. The decrepit beast cackled and pulled himself up, raising his single arm and lashing his broken tail. He snarled and tipped his head, his cracked glasses skewed on his warped head, revealing one lazy eye and one functioning one. Although he had no bottom jaw with which to bite down, the jagged teeth of his top jaw and his wicked right claws and the talons on his feet could all do enough damage not to mention any other part of his broken body's weight or jagged edges.
Gregory turned and sprinted back the other way.
Bells tinkled above him. He looked up and tried to raise the hand with a flashlight. Moon, hanging from a beam Gregory ran straight under, snatched him from the ground, tearing the flashlight and Bonnie from his hands and yanking him into the air. Monty barreled past, his roar crackling and stuttering.
Gregory squirmed in his grasp, but Moon held him fast and threw them both down to the ground. He looked at Moon and then ahead to see Vanny. Another set of hands grabbed him, velvety and cracked in dirty gloves. Moon didn't release him. Two purple circles glowed. Light flashed above, enough for him to see Freddy. Gregory screamed and thrashed in the hands of his captors, but the kids wouldn't let him go and he felt Freddy's teeth on his head and velvety fur on his hands.
Gregory spasmed awake and curled up tight into a shivering ball.
"Gregory?"
Light cut through the dark of his shelter as the stuffed corndog was moved aside.
"You're okay, now. You're safe, Cupcake." Chica cooed, kneeling beside the couch. Her thick fingers ran over his head and shoulders.
Gregory flinched. He rubbed his face and opened his eyes. Tears trapped beneath his eyelids rolled down his cheeks. He winced at the light. Had… he been crying? In his sleep?
"Can you tell me what happened?" Chica went on.
"Bad dream," he muttered.
"Aw. Those are no fun. You know, I heard talking about bad thoughts can help make them not-so-bad anymore. Do you want to talk about it?"
The first immediate answer that came to mind was "no", for a multitude of reasons. No, he didn't want to share his feelings. No, he didn't want to think about his dream. No, talking about his nightmare wouldn't make it any better. It might make it worse, considering Chica was likely to defend at least Freddy if not Monty and–knowing her–maybe Moon. But… maybe… Chica was right about a lot of things so far. He did not want to stew on his stupid nightmare the whole rest of the night.
So, staring at the back of the couch and petting Bonnie's ear, Gregory recited his nightmare. How Monty had become this weird, broken version of himself. Then when Moon swooped down on him like a snare trap and tore away his only defenses. Gregory's voice broke and he shut his eyes. "Bonnie can't move on his own. I can't lose Bonnie."
"I'm here for you, Gregory. Moon wouldn't actually do that."
How do you know?
"I just… something tells me he's not that evil. He wants you more than he doesn't want me."
Gregory mumbled, "Bonnie thinks Moon wouldn't do that." He hiccupped and swallowed. "Maybe he's right." Hopefully. There's nothing I could do to fight him. "Then Vanny appeared and grabbed me, and Moon didn't stop her. And Freddy was there. Then they tried to feed me to Freddy a-and he bit me and that's when I w-woke up." Gregory choked out the last bit of his dream in a rush, afraid if he stopped to take a breath, he would stop completely.
"That is awful," Chica agreed. "You must have been very scared."
Gregory nodded and rubbed his face again.
After a short silence, Chica said, "We have Parts and Service running and we know it works. If you want, we can find Monty. I can talk him down and then you can show him the golf score sheet. Monty's a funny guy and likes to check out weird or dangerous things. As long as you're safe, we can help him. Then he won't get broken, and he won't try to hurt you."
"And my nightmare won't happen," Gregory finished.
"Yes," Chica agreed. "The rabbit, Vanny. Moon wouldn't help her. She tried to hurt you. Moon does not want to hurt you."
"What if he does, though?" Gregory asked. "It really looked like he did every other time he's gone after me! Like when the lights went out in the D-Daycare!" He flinched at the memory of his escape from the Naptime Room, how the infuriated blue Daycare Attendant flew out of the electrical room and chased him down.
Chica tipped her head. "Hmm… well… what happened when Vanny entered the Daycare the first time?"
"She turned out the lights," Gregory said.
"What happened then? What did she do?"
"…she ran away."
"Would she have run away from her friend? From someone who was trying to help her?"
Gregory shook his head.
"There!" Chica chirped. "Moon may be… rough, but it isn't going to give you to Vanny." She rested her hand on his head. "And… we will stay away from Freddy, okay? Then you won't need to worry about him."
Gregory looked back at her. "We can't help him, huh?"
Chica bowed her head. "Freddy is my best friend, Gregory. We've been friends for as long as we've been active. All of our previous versions have been in the band, and they were probably friends, too. And during the day, he still is. But something's changed, and Freddy is acting differently."
"He's attacking you guys. Monty said so. And I read this note saying he destroyed Freddy toys. Do you think if we put him in Safe Mode, we can help him, too? You guys tried attacking me before."
Chica's eyes narrowed. "…maybe. But Gregory, please don't get your hopes up. I can talk to Monty and make him listen to you. But I can't make Freddy listen to you."
"Who are you going to ask next? Roxy?"
Don't take that tone with me. I'm trying, okay?
"…I know."
Gregory sighed and sat up. Chica pulled her hand back. "Okay. Thank… thank you, Chica."
Chica sat back on her heels. "How do you feel?"
"Better," he admitted.
She cooed and said, "That's good! Scary dreams are just that: scary dreams. Not real. Do you want to stay here for a little while longer or do you want to go?"
Gregory pushed himself off the couch. He straightened his knitted hat and picked up Bonnie and his flashlight. "We need to get going. I'd like to get Monty's help."
"Also not getting chomped by him would be nice."
That, too. He's a good gator.
"We'll probably find him in Gator Golf," Chica said. "He likes to walk around on the catwalks."
Gregory asked, "How do we get there? Through the main place?"
"Well… let's try the golf course first," she suggested. "It's dangerous up in those catwalks."
After a quick trip to the basement to turn on Parts and Service and Monty Golf, Gregory gave his second ticket to the Ticket Bot and walked with Chica through the wide hallway. "Chica?" he asked. "If he does see me, and I hide, what are you going to say?"
"Well, we'll try not to get found by him first," Chica suggested. "We'll find him. Then I'll talk him down and introduce you. He should listen to me. If he doesn't, you run and hide. I'll try to convince him to go to Parts and Service without you. That might be a teensie bit difficult, though… he probably won't want to go."
"Tell him I'm there," Gregory suggested. "I'll just meet you guys there."
"Then we'll run into the same problem," Chica pointed out. "But worse because there's no place for you to hide in Parts and Service. Monty can be reasonable. We'll think of something."
The shutters at the end opened, revealing a faux bog lined with mini golf courses. Alligators hissed and roared, rising up out of the water, opening their mouths and shaking their heads, and then sinking back under the rippling surface. A ball pit filled the center of the room with a trailer rearing out of the island in the middle.
Gregory looked over the lights hanging in the branches of the trees like fireflies as they walked. Two Security Bots made their rounds, but Chica and Gregory evaded them. After passing up a small stage, they came upon a building labeled "GATOR GRUB".
Gregory hesitated. "There's a security room down the hall connected to this room. And it lets out an alarm. It might attract Monty."
Chica tapped her beak. "We don't want to talk to him while an alarm is going off. Well, if he does appear, we'll just need to run out of there."
Gregory nodded and pushed open the door. The chef bot stood in front of the counter, waiting for instruction or perhaps to be booted up. He glanced back at the chicken animatronic as she shut the door behind him, looking over the kitchen as they walked. Her head turned back at an unnatural degree as they progressed out. But when the door shut behind them, she looked ahead again. Gregory turned his attention down the long, desolate hall as well. A single security badge icon stamped into the far wall was the only thing to break the monotonous, flat gray of the cramped space.
A single turn later, and there were five doors–two close to each other on the left, two further apart on the right and one at the far end. Gregory stepped into the door on the left into the security office, ignoring the cluttered space around it. Red lights blazed and an alarm shrieked. Gregory winced and shut off his light. Shoot, he should probably remember which ones activated instantly. Then again, this was hopefully going to be his last time here so he wouldn't need to.
Gregory lunged for the security Freddy head on a tech-covered table and bopped it on the nose, snatched the camera beside it, and the blue and rainbow ticket to MAZErcise on the pizza box nearby. Once the Freddy head had opened all the way, he took the security badge inside.
The time was four-fifteen am. Again.
He looked back to see Chica standing directly in front of the window by the door he'd entered, blocking any view from the outside. His glasses beeped.
Gregory tapped his glasses. [Did you get everything you needed? That Faz-Cam will stop anyone that tries to get near you, except for Monty because of his glasses, and Sun because he's immune to light based resets.]
Gregory gave her the thumbs up. He winced upon hearing pounding at the door. Monty roared, "I know yer in there!"
He stepped out through the other door. Once that door closed behind him and he slipped out into the hall, Chica followed and then ushered him out through the door opposite, which he now had a high enough security level to access.
The alarm died behind them.
Gregory asked, "So… what time do you think we should call him?"
Chica hummed to herself. "Well, I'm not quite sure. He's definitely going to be patrolling the golf course after this."
"Gregory? Why are you guys walking?"
I dunno, because Chica's pretty loud when she runs. I'm not leaving her again.
"You're going to get killed."
Gregory opened his mouth to speak when the ground started to shake under him. He bristled and spun around in time to see Monty charge up the trail behind them, lavender eyes concentrated on him. Gregory tried to run but Chica pushed his head down, simultaneously stopping him and forcing him to duck.
Monty flew over him. He landed on the trail ahead of them, tipping forward and waving his tail to regain his balance, and turned around to face them. He cackled, "Rock and roll!"
Gregory slipped out of Chica's grasp and stood up. "Monty, wait! Before you kill me or whatever, please listen to me."
Chica chipped in, "Monty, please listen to him."
Monty tipped his head with a low, confused growl. He bared his claws, but at least shut his mouth.
Gregory let out a quiet breath and pulled out his Monty Golf score sheet. He held it out and stepped forward, Monty's signature facing the animatronic alligator.
Monty looked down at the paper and carefully took it from him. Despite having likely perfect vision being a robot, he squinted at the paper. "This is my signature," he grunted. "An' it's marked last evenin'. But I don't remember these scores or you."
Gregory explained, "Today–er, last night since it's morning now, I went to Monty Golf. I'm terrible at mini golf and I'd never played before. You helped me out and gave me a new score sheet because it was my first time playing. That night, during the show, this white rabbit lady showed up and lured me into the utility tunnels, where I ran away. I found you in your green room and you agreed to help me. You gave me these glasses." He pointed to his glasses. "You helped me get through the Pizzaplex and find a way to escape by getting seven security badges. We found out Vanny, the rabbit lady, was controlling you guys through a virus in the main network. I took you off the main network and put you into Safe Mode and that helped. We helped Chica and Roxy. Finally, you helped me escape, even though I wanted to stay and help."
Chica put in, "He found me this morning and asked for my help and then he helped me. I feel different, now. She did something to me, Monty. She's done something to all of us."
Monty blinked his umber eyes and looked at Chica and then Gregory. He held out the paper for the kid, who immediately, gently, refolded and pocketed it. "That's jus' plain ridiculous," he stated. "…but I have to believe it. I wrote it to myself an'… Chickadee, I've never seen this Vanny person."
Chica shook her head. "Me, neither. But Roxy has and so has Gregory."
Monty blinked. "She did? Why didn't she tell us?"
"I'm not sure," she admitted.
"We've been here a long time. We should get going."
Gregory looked around. "Do… you want to go to Parts and Service? Then we can help you."
Monty looked at Chica, who nodded, and then at Gregory. "Yeah, guess so."
Gregory grinned and walked with them down the trail. He narrowed his eyes at a creeping headache. He gasped and looked around. "Chica! It's the rabbit lady!"
Chica looked around. "Where?"
Monty glanced down at him and then around Monty Golf. "Did you see her?"
"No, no! I always feel bad whenever she's close! I-it's like she has this-this thing on her that makes everything all weird!" Outside of the two security bots, nothing moved in the golf course.
Chica took his hand and moved forward. "We need to move. If you see her, tell me."
Gregory stumbled, but quickly found his footing and followed. He nodded, hugging Bonnie close to his chest. Monty growled and followed, swinging his head back and forth and holding his claws out by his side. Gregory tried not to look back at him. Don't run. Whatever you do, don't run. Bonnie? Can you hear me?
"…"
I thought so.
His headache worsened. Then, as they approached the elevators, he caught a set of white ears peeking out over the landing in front of the elevators. He exclaimed, "She's on the landing!"
Chica and Monty both looked up. Chica asked, "Where?"
Vanny leaned over the balcony and waved. "Hello, Gregory~!" she cooed and cocked her head to the side, flopping her ears over. "I found you~!" With that, she skipped down the stairs.
Gregory pointed at the stairs. "Sh-she's on the stairs! You really can't see her?"
Chica turned and ran in the opposite direction. Gregory yelped and stumbled and ran after her. "I can't. We need to leave!"
Gregory yelped, "No! No, Chica, I can't run!"
Chica glanced back at him. "Why not?"
Beep! Gregory winced. Beep! He looked back. Beep! Monty held his paws over his eyes and doubled over. Beep! Vanny stopped by the alligator animatronic and stared up at him. Beep! He took a step back, shook his head, and then lowered his hands and turned his lavender eyes on Gregory and Chica.
Gregory's headache eased into nonexistence. He wheezed, "Monty goes back into hunting mode when I run from him."
Chica looped back to Gator Grub and down the hall. She led him through the hall, the door at the end, and the small, circular tech room into one of the golf courses with mist and gold guard rails.
Behind the bathrooms was a gold door with a "10" at the corner. Chica stopped and pushed through it. Gregory could barely hold back tears upon seeing the descending spiral stairs. She let go of him and ushered him inside. "Keep going. Find your way back to my greenroom and then Parts and Service. I'll distract Monty. Okay?"
Gregory stammered but nodded.
Chica stepped back and shut the door behind herself. The ground shook and Monty's snarling grew louder… and then softer.
Gregory, gasping and wheezing for air, descended the stairs.
"Gregory? What happened? Where are we?"
Vanny caught up to us and turned Monty against us again. Chica distracted him and told me to go through the utility tunnels.
"Alone?"
Either alone or with her and Monty and probably Vanny, too.
"…point taken."
Gregory tapped his glasses to look at his chat log. Monty left a few messages behind.
[Don't run! Little guy, tell Chica to stop!]
[Keep running. Somethin's wrong, I don't know.]
[Little guy, it's Parts and Service, right? You said to go there?]
[I'm sorry, I don't want to hurt you. Just stay with Chica!]
Gregory's heart stung. He stepped down into the cement hall and kept walking. He took out his flashlight and pointed it around at the cluttered space and walls. Eventually, his flashlight's beam fell over a few symbols and arrows pointing to the Daycare, Kid's Cove, and an arcade. "Okay, so… Kid's Cove is next to the entrance to Monty Golf. A-and the Daycare is next to the entrance to the Pizzaplex. If we go to the Daycare, we can go there and then backtrack through those utility tunnels back to Rockstar Row."
"Isn't the security door closed?"
"It can't still be closed."
"What if it is? We can't get back in here."
Gregory bit back a growl. "Well, then, we'll get to Rockstar Row through the atrium."
"Right under Roxy's nose, without Chica to gaslight her."
What do you suggest we do?
"Just keep moving through here. These tunnels connect to all the attractions. I'm sure one will connect to the one connecting to Rockstar Row eventually."
Gregory bit back a growl. Bonnie was just being helpful. He was making sense, too. Ergh! Why couldn't they just be there already? This place was creepy! With it's one light every twenty feet that flickered and the rows of tech that beeped and glinted like something out of an old sci-fi movie.
Gregory checked the wall, squinting to make out the symbols. They had passed Kid's Cove and were close to the tunnel leading to the Daycare, now. The lights were dimmer here. Hopefully they stayed clinging to life, no matter how little it was.
…
They passed the Daycare and took two turns and Gregory could see signs pointing to various maintenance and control facilities, but none to Rockstar Row or Parts and Service. Gregory spat, "This is so stupid! I should just go to the atrium!"
"A little bit longer."
"Do you remember any of this?"
"Well, not really. I know something bad happened near the Daycare tunnel, or a tunnel with the Daycare marked on it. But that's it."
"Helpful," Gregory grunted.
"Yeah, well, I'm trying my best here. I barely ever went into the Utility Tunnels."
Gregory scuffed the ground with his shoe. "This is so stupid," he repeated. "We should be there by now, or at least know where we are. I wish this place wasn't so confusing. I wish we had a map!"
"A map would be helpful."
Gregory ran his light over the wall again to get some sense of where he was going. He started to speak but hesitated upon hearing a new sound–a robotic buzzing like the frantic whirring of gears and speeding wheels. Wheels and motors? Like a moped or cart or something? Driven by Officer Vanessa? …with no light?
He started off down the hall at a sprint. The whirring got louder until suddenly a set of robotic, pincher-like hands grabbed his arm in a vice grip and spun him around. He screamed and whipped his flashlight up so it glared off the S.T.A.F.F. bot's orange-and-white face.
Map Bot released him and held out a blue and white pamphlet. "Take a map."
Gregory looked at the map and then the robot.
"Take a map," Map Bot repeated.
Gregory took the map.
"Thank you. Enjoy." Map Bot straightened out, turned, and rolled down the hall at a more passive pace.
Gregory stared after the robotic greeter until finally the S.T.A.F.F. bot vanished into the dark. "W… what?"
"You have a map, now. That should lead you to Rockstar Row. I forgot they did that."
"O-oh. Right." Gregory blinked and shook his head. "Right." He looked down at his newest piece of literature. Gregory knelt, spread it over the ground, and held his flashlight far back behind himself so it didn't glare over the paper quite so hard into his eyes. "So, we… are probably around here. We passed up the Daycare having come from Monty Golf and… Rockstar Row was in the exact opposite direction." Gregory hung his head and sighed. "Great." He packed up the map, put it in his pocket, and started off down the hall again.
"At least we know where we're going."
That's a comfort.
Beep! Gregory tapped his glasses. [Gregory? Where are you? I convinced Monty to come to Parts and Service, but you aren't here.]
Gregory said, "I got lost in the utility tunnels, but I found my way and I'm on my way back. Is he in the cylinder? Is he still under the influence of the virus?"
Beep! [No, he's outside of it. I don't know; he's not acting mean. But he's never acted mean toward me before.]
"Can you get him to talk to me?"
Beep! [Can he talk to you?]
"He talked before, when we were running away."
Beep! [Okay, I'll ask him, now.]
Beep! [Little guy? How do I know how to contact you?]
Gregory grinned. "Hey, Monty! You're my friend! Don't you remember? Even a little bit?"
Beep! [No, I'm sorry. Chica keeps telling me about you, but I don't rightly recall seeing you. Vanessa did say there was a missing kid around here. Guessing that's you.]
Gregory's eyebrows furrowed. "You've seen me before. You've attacked me before."
Beep! [I have? When? Why?]
"You don't remember?" Gregory bit his tongue and asked, "You keep finding an intruder here, right?"
Beep! [That's right. There's a security threat around here somewhere. Nearly caught them in the Prize Counter and gave them the what for.]
Gregory asked, "Can you describe them? Like, what did they look like?"
Beep! [You saying you've seen them?]
"Maybe. So, can you?"
Beep! [I sure can! I almost caught them at the Prize Counter! I]
Several seconds of silence followed this message.
Beep! [I can't rightly tell you. I just know they're a threat. Have you seen them?]
"Yeah. That was me," Gregory said. "At the Prize Counter, and just now in Monty Golf. That 'intruder' was actually me. It's Vanny. She's done something to you all to make you think kids are security threats or something. Roxy tried to kill me, too. So did Freddy."
Beep! [That was you? Kid, I could've killed you.]
"But you didn't. Chica saved me. And I'm going to help you once I get to Parts and Service. Hopefully putting you into Safe Mode removes whatever hold she has on you."
Beep! [If you come here, I'll see you as a threat and I'll try and neutralize you.]
"Then don't see me, problem solved," Gregory scoffed. "Close your eyes or something. Or, I'll tell you guys when I'm getting close. Then you go in on your own before I get there."
Beep! [Heh. Close my eyes. I like your way of thinking. Alright. Tell us when you're close.]
Gregory drew his flashlight over the walls. "Okay. Will do!"
"So, good news?"
Great news! Monty is feeling better, but is definitely still under the influence of the virus.