Once Alex took a small step inside the room he was now in, he only saw long hallways to both of his sides and a small illuminated area in front of him, all of it accompanied by a cloud of Red Smoke.
He gulped.
The adrenaline from running away was starting to fade away, and with it came drowsiness.
He might have been able to stay conscious until then, but his luck wouldn't last too much longer, he feared.
Alex listened to his surroundings, hearing nothing that could indicate Catnap's presence. He was either still looking for a way to go after him or the Red Smoke was making him not hear the steps.
Was that even possible?
He didn't want to know, so Alex prayed it was the former and began to explore the hallways of the room.
He didn't find anything in those hallways, so he decided to make his way towards the illuminated area.
He stumbled across a VCR player, with the tape laying just a small distance ahead. Alex was tempted to play it, but last time he had played a tape while under the smoke's influence had been…
He simply grabbed the tape and made a mental note to come back to watch it later.
Without further setbacks, Alex finally arrived at the illuminated middle room.
It was quite a wide area where four entrances that led to the hallways were present. There were a few batteries scattered around the place, along with two electric outlets, one needing one battery and another one requiring four. That one was on top of a screen.
There were also receivers connected to some sort of mechanisms at the entrances, along with jump pads that seemed to lead to even more receivers.
He also noticed the entrances to the sides had battery holes connected to the same mechanisms as the receivers and one battery plugged in to what seemed like the lights.
He was confused as to what in the world this room was, why there was a jump pad, or why there were so many battery holes, or what the mechanisms in the entrances were for, and considering his head was pounding from the gas' effects, he really didn't feel like thinking about it.
Now, what could he do to fend off Catnap?
As if to answer his question, the screen below the outlet lit up, and Alex immediately ran to see what it was.
His heart skipped a beat when he heard a voice.
"Hello? Alex? Please, I hope this is coming through…"
It was Poppy. Her voice was filled with static, but thankfully, there was text on screen that allowed him to read what she said.
"Poppy?! Is it you? Or am I hallucinating?"
"Alex! It's me, I'm real! " She replied. " Now listen, there's no time to waste! Catnap's on his way!"
"Okay! Then where even am I? I don't see any exits from here!"
"Calm down and listen! The room you're in used to be a sort of panic room. It's... not what it used to be, but it can protect you." She explained.
"But how? There's only a lot of receivers and battery holes!"
"Learn how it works. Try putting the batteries in the different glowing spots."
Alex wasn't sure what she meant, but he decided to trust her. He didn't have any other option.
He grabbed one battery and placed it below the outlet. He now had a power source to activate the receivers. He had thought of putting the batteries on the other outlet, but none of the holes were glowing, so he didn't do that, just in case.
Then, Alex saw one of the holes to the sides of the room. He got another battery and placed it there. Immediately, a huge column of steam began pouring from a pipe. It only seemed to stop when he took out the battery.
Before continuing, Alex decided to gather all the batteries for easy access. He had one for the outlet, one for one of the sides, and two extra batteries.
He placed one in the hole on the other side, and steam appeared just as before, blocking that side as well. There were only two entrances left unprotected, but there didn't seem to be any battery holes.
He still had an extra battery, however, so he held onto it, walking to the computer again.
"Okay. Poppy! I placed all the batteries I could! What's next?"
"Good! Hold on, let me think…" The doll hummed. "Okay, so in between the hallways, there's those two side rooms, on the left and the right."
Alex looked to his sides. The only 'side rooms' he could see were the small area he could access with the jump pad, and the place where he had gotten one of the batteries, which was behind a door he could open with his GrabPack.
"I see them."
"There'll be green power receivers in those little rooms. They can block off the hallways before Catnap gets to you. Try them!"
Alex didn't know what she was trying to say, but decided to try nonetheless. He switched to his purple hand and jumped up onto a platform from which he could see two receivers.
He switched to his green hand again, shooting it at the outlet and then at one of the receivers.
Alex realized that the charge did the same that the battery did, albeit the steam stopped coming after a small amount of time.
Okay, so now I know how I can block these two entrances…
Just to be sure, Alex went back down to the ground and used his blue hand to open the grated door before putting another charge in the other receiver. Steam came off the other entrance.
Then, as a final check, Alex unplugged one of the batteries that made steam appear from the sides before putting a charge on the receiver connected to that entrance.
As expected, steam burst from the pipe, but only for a small while.
With a determined nod, Alex put the battery back.
Okay, so the charges make steam come from the pipes for a few seconds. I got it.
Alex ran back to the computer.
"Okay, Poppy! I know how to use the charges! Anything else?"
"Nice! If you see Catnap, be sure to use those." Poppy told him. "Anything else… Right! You're probably gonna hallucinate a bit. It'll be hard to tell what's real and what's fake while you're deep in Red Smoke…"
"What?! That doesn't assure me at all!"
"Calm down! Try using your flares on Catnap to make sure he's real. If he isn't, the flare will go right through him."
Alex switched to his flare hand and took a good look at it with an unsure expression. "Are you sure about that?"
"Of course! You have to trust-"
Poppy was interrupted when Alex heard a loud bang coming from somewhere in the hallways.
"L̵i̶t̶t̷l̸e̷ ̵r̷a̸t̵.̷.̶.̸"
Alex's face paled. There was another bang.
"C̵o̶m̶e̵ ̷o̵u̸t̶ ̷a̸n̶d̴ ̸p̸l̷a̷y̴~̷"
He was there.
Catnap was there!
"Poppy!" Alex almost choked with the words.
"I heard that! He's almost there!" Poppy worriedly shouted. "Listen Alex, I know you won't want to, but there's only one way out of this situation."
Alex dreaded to hear those words. "You mean…?"
"You'll have to end this once and for all."
"Poppy! I can't do that!" Alex cried.
"There's no other way around it! I know it looks impossible, but there might be a way to kill him, if you can hold out. Do you see the outlet above the computer terminal?"
Alex didn't want to think about what he was going to be forced to do, but he knew that there really was a chance that there was no other way other than kill Catnap.
He gulped, hoping the worst wouldn't come to happen.
"I-I do."
"Progressively use the batteries to fill the surrounding slots. That will overcharge the outlet and give you a way to defend yourself and give Catnap some volts of electricity. Do not put all four batteries at the same time, or the outlet may explode!"
Alex gulped, nodding while taking everything in. "Okay… Overcharge the outlet, get the charge to defend myself and then…"
Alex thought of first running away before trying to hurt Catnap. "..do that, all while avoiding death. Okay… I can do it…" He muttered to himself.
"Oh, and Alex!"
"Yeah?"
"Please, don't do anything stupid."
And the text was replaced with a progress bar, reading 0% and one of the battery holes lighting up.
Alex guessed that 'something stupid' referred to 'try to save Catnap'.
And yet, he was most likely going to end up doing something stupid. Whether that was saving Catnap or something else entirely was up for debate.
Without wasting any more time, Alex went on to insert the first battery into the glowing hole.
Alex then saw the screen change to display the remaining time, which was 180 seconds, ticking down.
However, no sooner had he placed that battery, he heard loud footsteps just behind him.
Alex turned around to see the giant figure of that nightmarish Catnap standing literally a step away from him.
"F̶o̵u̵n̷d̸ ̸y̷o̷u̵.̷"
Alex screamed and fell backwards, accidentally hitting the trigger of his flare gun, which launched a flare at the giant cat.
The moment it made contact with him, Catnap disappeared into a puff of smoke as the flare simply passed through him.
The human stood still for a while, wondering what had just happened, but then remembered what Poppy told him.
The gas was making him hallucinate. That Catnap wasn't real.
Which meant the real one might be coming for him.
Alex immediately got back on his feet and checked the two entrances not covered by steam, and to his horror, there was not one, but two Catnaps going towards him.
Without wasting time, Alex threw a flare at each. The left flare went right through the fake Catnap, while the right one hit right on his face.
That one was real.
With an alarmed yelp, Alex quickly switched to his green hand.
"Y̶o̸u̷r̶ ̷l̷i̸t̷t̶l̸e̸ ̸f̷l̷a̵r̸e̴s̵ ̸w̵i̷l̸l̸ ̸n̷o̶t̴ ̴w̵o̴r̷k̵ ̵o̵n̴ ̵m̴e̴."
The human simply got a charge and opened the grated door, waiting just until Catnap was below the pipes.
"It's not the flares you should be worried about!"
Alex put the charge onto the receiver, causing the steam to come bursting out of it. The moment it touched Catnap, he let out a distorted screech as he ran away from the area where Alex was.
"Yeah! You didn't like that, HUH?!"
It felt good to finally give Catnap a taste of his own medicine. How he wished the GrabPack had a portable steam shooter, or something like that.
Alex didn't stop there, however. He began pacing back and forth in between the two entrances, shooting flares at whatever may come, to get him.
Every single time the flare struck Catnap, he could see the giant feline flinch slightly from the ball of fire. Why? He wasn't very sure, but it was a perfect opportunity to go for the green receiver and give him a dose of steam.
A few of those later, and he could hear the sound of an alarm going off. He turned to look at the terminal, finding out the screen flashed red with a text saying 'Battery required'.
Alex swiftly snatched the battery connected to the lights, seeing how most lights in the room suddenly stopped working.
He didn't need them anyway.
He then put the battery inside another hole connected to the terminal as it once again displayed the remaining time. 135 seconds.
"H̴o̵w̷?̸ " Alex heard Catnap's voice ask. " H̸o̷w̶ ̷a̴r̶e̸ ̶y̵o̶u̴ ̴s̵t̷i̸l̶l̵ ̴s̷t̷a̶n̴d̶i̷n̶g̷?̴!̷
"That's a great question, buddy." Alex shot back. "I got an even better one. Don't you get tired of trying to kill me? We could just sit down and talk, you know?"
A flare hit its target, as Catnap almost made it into the center room.
"Or not. Whatever."
As Alex kept running to watch out for any attempts to reach him, he was surprised to hear loud bangs coming from above him.
When he looked up, he found a hatch with a lot of painted handprints slowly opening, revealing Catnap's face behind it.
"Hell no! That's cheating!"
Alex shot one of his hands at the handle of the hatch as he lowered it back to a closed state. "If you want to get me, do it like a man!"
Great. So now he not only had to look out for the ground entrances, but a hatch too.
"D̶o̶n̶'̷t̴ ̶y̵o̶u̴ ̴u̵n̸d̷e̶r̶s̴t̶a̶n̸d̴?̴ ̸T̸h̸i̶s̸ ̷i̶s̷ ̵h̶i̸s̷ ̷w̶i̵l̷l̵.̷ " Catnap called as he walked through one of the hallways. " N̸o̷w̴ ̵q̵u̴i̷t̴ ̷s̶q̴u̸i̵r̶m̶i̵n̷g̶,̸ ̶y̴o̶u̶ ̶a̵n̵n̸o̷y̶i̴n̸g̷ ̶r̴o̷d̵e̴n̶t̸!̶"
Another charge. Catnap was sent running away.
"It's you who's not understanding! You've been starving, killing each other, and your 'god' doesn't even show his face?" Alex shouted. "You really think he cares about you? Or me for that matter? I haven't even seen him outside of tapes, yet you claim he wants me dead! Did he tell you through telepathy? Because I sure as hell didn't see him speak to you!"
"A̶n̶d̵ ̷w̴h̶a̶t̵ ̶d̷o̴ ̴k̷n̶o̸w̵?̴!̸"
Alex saw the terminal beeping again. He needed another battery.
He couldn't take out the one from the outlet, or he'd be defenseless. He had to choose one of the sides to leave unprotected.
He chose to take the left battery and insert it into the terminal.
95 seconds.
"H̵e̷ ̷h̴a̵s̵ ̸s̵a̸v̶e̴d̶ ̷u̶s̶!̷" Catnap continued, opening the hatch once again. "F̶r̵e̶e̵d̷ ̶u̶s̶ ̸f̷r̶o̶m̸ ̶p̷e̴o̷p̶l̸e̵ ̸l̴i̶k̵e̵ ̵y̶o̷u̵ ̸w̴h̴o̸ ̵o̷n̴l̶y̵ ̴w̸a̸n̷t̴e̸d̶ ̶t̷o̵ ̵m̴a̸k̶e̸ ̸u̷s̴ ̸s̷u̴f̴f̴e̸r̶!̸"
"Freed?" Alex replied, closing it. "Then why is it that I came back 10 years later and found you all still here? That doesn't sound like freeing to me!"
Alex saw a Catnap from the corner of his eyes. He threw a flare, but he disappeared on contact. And then another one. And another one.
Too many fakes.
Where was the real one?
"W̴e̵ ̷a̵r̸e̵ ̷n̵o̸t̷ ̴c̵h̷i̶l̸d̷r̷e̴n̸ ̷a̵n̷y̷m̷o̴r̴e̴,̶ ̸r̵a̵t̵!̴ ̸W̴e̴ ̵a̸r̸e̴ ̸e̸x̸p̸e̶r̵i̶m̸e̷n̷t̵s̶!̸ ̶M̸o̸n̸s̸t̵e̸r̶s̵!̴ ̷D̷o̶ ̵y̸o̵u̴ ̴r̶e̴a̶l̶l̴y̵ ̶b̵e̷l̶i̷e̵v̶e̷ ̸w̵e̶ ̴c̴o̵u̶l̴d̷ ̵s̵i̷m̸p̷l̸y̵ ̷w̶a̷l̶k̴ ̷o̴u̶t̴ ̶t̶h̴e̵ ̷d̷o̸o̶r̷ ̶a̴n̷d̷ ̷l̸i̸v̸e̸ ̵a̷ ̸h̶a̸p̷p̶y̵ ̴l̸i̷f̸e̴ ̴l̶i̷k̷e̶ ̷y̸o̷u̴ ̷k̵e̷e̵p̷ ̸s̴a̶y̸i̸n̷g̷ ̴y̵o̷u̷'̴l̷l̸ ̶g̵i̵v̶e̵ ̷u̴s̷?̶!̸"
Alex winced at those words.
"Is that what the Prototype told you? That there's no hope for any of you outside?"
Alex wanted to argue, but even if he hated to admit it…
…the Prototype did have a point. Or at least part of it.
They couldn't just walk out the door and go to an orphanage, that much was certain, but it still wasn't right to keep them locked inside the factory.
"So what if that's true?! He didn't let any of you even set a foot outside! Don't you think that if he really cared about you all, he wouldn't at least let you go get more food once it started running out?"
Alex put a charge on another receiver, Catnap crying in pain again.
"Like, you, Catnap, are probably the most skilled hunter in the whole place! And his most loyal follower too! Don't you think that he could have tasked you with, I don't know, hunting a few animals outside and then coming back to feed the rest?! Have you thought about that?"
Another charge, and another pained cry. The attempts to get him were less and less frequent by the second.
"Y̸O̶U̶ ̵K̷N̵O̵W̸ ̴N̷O̷T̶H̷I̴N̵G̷!̶"
There were bangs coming from the hatch again, but Alex was quick to act and close it.
"Maybe, but what I do know is why you follow him, Catnap! Why you idolize him! But you have to understand he's not a good person! He's not someone you should look up to! He's only manipulating you, and he most likely has been for years!"
Another alarm.
Only one battery was left to be inserted, which meant that Alex had to take it from the last entrance's mechanism, which meant that all entrances were now left unprotected.
Alex put it in the last hole.
45 seconds. 75%.
Just a few more seconds.
"Just look at this situation! You and him want me dead! You can't seem to be able to get to me, and yet I still don't see any signs of your god! He could try to help you, you know?"
Alex heard a long growl coming from Catnap. Suddenly, four copies of him appeared, one in each hallway.
Alex quickly dispelled two fakes with his flares, but when he went for the third one…
The flare gun let out a clicking sound.
Alex's face went pale. He was out of ammo.
"Seriously?! Now?!"
"G̷a̴m̸e̴ ̴o̶v̴e̵r̵,̵ ̴r̴a̷t̷!̵"
Alex scrambled for a way to see which Catnap was the real one, but with each second, the more the two giant cats drew closer, and the closer he was to his end.
Alex then saw something. A pile of debris. And near it, small rocks. Or well, more like a small rock. The other ones were too heavy to throw. He had only one chance.
But which one?!
As Catnap was just a step from entering inside the room, Alex took a guess and threw the rock at one of the copies.
The rock passed right through it, dispelling it into a puff of smoke.
Good news, he now knew which was the real one!
Bad news…
"G̶o̵t̴ ̶y̷o̴u̶!̸"
The real Catnap was behind him.
Alex had mere milliseconds to jump out of Catnap's reach. He just barely made it, now without a new set of claw marks on his back and yet another tear on his poor shirt.
Panicking, Alex ran away from the room and into the hallways that made the rest of the room.
Catnap didn't even care about the electrical contraption and instead focused all his attention on Alex, chasing him down.
Alex had a plan. If he could manage to outrun Catnap for a while, he could then go back and get the charge from the outlet. Maybe then they could have a talk.
However, the mere prospect of running was tiring for Alex. The room was still filled with Red Smoke, and that wasn't oxygen, which meant that every breath he took didn't feel as good as it should.
His resistance was faltering, and the pounding on his head as it beckoned him to give in to his drowsiness was stronger than ever.
And yet, the sheer feeling of Catnap's breath on his neck was enough to keep him moving.
"G̴i̴v̴e̶ ̴u̶p̶ ̴a̸l̴r̴e̴a̸d̵y̷!̵"
He heard the giant cat shout behind him. But he didn't. He wouldn't.
He had to run as fast as he could.
He turned a corner only to see that Catnap was now in front of him, but instead of flinching, Alex only ran even faster.
The real one is behind me. That's a fake. Please, tell me that's a fake…
The Catnap in front of him raised a claw to strike.
Pleasepleasepleaseplease…
Alex ran straight through the copy.
Thank goodness!
The happiness didn't last too long, however. Alex accidentally tripped on a low cable and fell onto the ground. That was it. It was over.
And yet, it didn't come. Catnap wasn't there. Had he… lost him? No. He had to be readying something.
How much plot armor do I have?!
Nonetheless, Alex wasn't going to stay to find out. He quickly ran back to the center of the room, finding the terminal needed 5 more seconds.
"Last chance to talk, bud!" Alex shouted.
"W̷h̸y̵?̸!̴" Catnap said. "I̷'̶v̵e̷ ̵t̴h̸r̶o̶w̷n̷ ̴e̷v̵e̴r̷y̴t̸h̵i̴n̷g̸ ̴I̶ ̵h̵a̴d̵ ̷a̷t̸ ̷y̶o̸u̷!̴ ̴T̵o̷r̴t̸u̴r̷e̵d̸ ̷y̶o̷u̶!̵ ̷P̶l̶a̸y̸e̷d̶ ̴w̴i̵t̴h̸ ̴y̸o̸u̷!̵ ̸M̵a̷d̸e̴ ̴y̴o̷u̸ ̶s̸u̶f̷f̴e̴r̷ a̵n̷d̸ ̵a̸l̶m̸o̶s̵t̷ ̸e̷n̴d̸e̵d̴ ̴y̸o̵u̵r̴ ̸l̶i̵f̸e̶!̶ A̶n̶d̵ ̶y̸e̵t̸ ̷y̴o̸u̸ ̴s̶t̷i̸l̷l̵ ̶i̴n̴s̵i̵s̸t̴ ̷o̷n̶ ̷t̷r̶y̴i̷n̷g̶ ̸t̴o̵ ̶a̶v̵o̶i̷d̸ ̸v̵i̷o̵l̸e̷n̴c̴e̸?̴!̷"
Alex didn't know what to reply. Why wasn't he using violence on Catnap? Why was he trying to think of a way to save him, even after everyone was telling him he was a lost cause? After everything he had made him go through?
"D̵o̶ ̸y̴o̶u̸ ̸r̶e̶a̶l̶l̷y̴ ̸t̸h̸i̸n̸k̷ ̴t̵h̸a̷t̴ ̵a̷c̸t̴i̷n̷g̶ ̶l̴i̶k̸e̵ ̴a̴n̵ ̷'̷a̵n̴g̶e̸l̷'̴ ̶w̸i̵l̶l̷ ̴m̴a̸k̸e̴ ̴y̵o̵u̸ ̴a̴t̵o̶m̶e̵ ̴f̶o̷r̸ ̴y̶o̷u̶r̵ ̴a̵c̶t̷i̶o̴n̷s̷?̸!̴" Catnap added.
Alex knew that answer already. "No."
Silence.
"I know that playing nice won't give anyone back ten years of their life. I know that playing nice is just an easy way to get killed. I know that it won't make me feel less guilty about anything. Even if unknowingly, I still helped with the experiments, in a way."
"S̸o̵ ̵y̶o̷u̴ ̴a̴d̸m̴i̸t̷ ̴i̵t̴ ̷t̵h̴e̶n̶?̸!̵"
"Maybe. But you know what is certain? The fact that the past is, and will always be the past. No one can change that. The only thing we can do is mend our errors. Try and fix our mistakes."
Alex took a deep breath.
"You want to know why I'm acting like an 'angel'? Because I know I can't turn any of you back into children, Catnap. The only thing I can do is end this nightmare and try to give you all the life you deserve. The life that we took away from you."
Alex readied his green hand and aimed at the outlet, which was bursting with electricity. "If you don't want to believe me, then don't. But there you have it. I have my reasons to avoid getting killed, just like you have your reasons to try and kill me. But at least now you know my motivation. Why I haven't given up."
A sigh. "Because my friends need someone to take care of them. And if I'm gone, then who will?"
Alex pressed the trigger of the hand, launching it at the outlet.
However, the moment it touched it, the hatch above Alex flew open just as Catnap jumped from there, his regular appearance having returned, placing himself between the human and the outlet, not without throwing him to the ground, the GrabPack hand coming back on its own.
"LIAR!" He yelled. "You are just like the rest! Making us think we are safe with your hollow promises just to backstab us when we least expect it! Just like them!"
Alex looked at Catnap surprised. He could swear there was something in his eyes. He was almost… crying?
"You don't care about anyone! You just want to see us burn!"
Catnap took a step towards Alex, the human r aising his overcharged hand at him, and Catnap immediately flinched, stepping back. He knew what electricity could do.
"Don't make me do it, Theo. Not again."
Catnap growled as he raised one of his claws. "DIE!"
The next moments were a blur to Alex. He didn't remember exactly what happened, only that seeing Catnap's claw approaching him made him pull the trigger of the green hand which was aimed at Catnap.
Before the cat could do anything to him, the green hand latched onto the feline's body.
And then…
Catnap's body tensed as he let out a scream of pain while he was shocked and fell to the ground, twitching while sparks came off his body. The cable that connected the hand to his GrabPack was cut, and with that came the fact that he didn't have the green hand anymore.
And yet, as he laid on the ground, one of his claws reached for Alex, as the tiniest bit of Red Smoke came from Catnap's mouth. His last attempt to get Alex to fall unconscious.
Alex saw the sparks and the gas and gasped as the words of a certain sunny canine reached his mind again.
"...and that time Kickin had the brilliant idea of trying to set Catnap's gas on fire with a match…"
Realization dawned on him.
The gas was flammable.
"Wait-!"
But it was too late.
One of the sparks of electricity made contact with the smoke as there was a bright explosion in front of Catnap's face.
And when Alex dared to look back…
Catnap let out a distorted screech as the fire extended all over the fabric that made his body as he began running and rolling on the floor, trying to make the fire stop. Because he was burning alive.
And then, after seconds that felt like hours, the fire died down. And as Catnap laid on the ground, breathing heavily, his previously purple fur having been almost completely burnt away, only one thought was in Alex's mind.
What have I done?
The two stood there for a long while, in silence. But before Alex could speak, something he wouldn't have expected happened.
From the broken hatch, a light appeared. It looked almost divine. And from the same spot Catnap had dropped down to give him the finishing blow, appeared…
Him.
The responsible for everyone's suffering. The one that had made Catnap do all he had done. That hand with inhumanly sharp needle fingers connected with cables and bearing those long bones in its arms.
The Prototype.
Alex wanted to scream something, but he could only watch as Catnap's eyes widened to a whole new level before he squirmed away from him, scared.
Scared of having disappointed him.
"M-My lord…" The cat stuttered.
No words came from the wretched thing, which only made Catnap even more scared. "I-I am so sorry, my lord! I have failed you yet again!" He cried. "P-Please, just give me another chance! I… I won't fail you ever again!"
Still no words.
Alex waited for anything to happen.
And then, despite what he had thought, the Prototype actually said something. "There… Are no more chances."
Both Catnap and Alex's eyes widened. The latter because of the voice he had heard. Or more like voices. Apparently, the Prototype's voice consisted of an amalgamation of various different voices.
Fitting for a monster.
"N-No! I'm begging you, my lord!"
Now Catnap was actually crying, what was happening? Was he seriously that devoted to that thing?!
"Look at me ." He commanded.
And Catnap looked at him, kneeling as he awaited something. "You've had many chances. And this human has won each."
Now, Catnap's expression changed to a mix between fear and acceptance, as he closed his eyes.
Alex narrowed his eyes. Wait, what does that mean?
The Prototype put his sharp fingers together. "You have failed me for the last time, Theodore."
Alex saw how now there was an actual tear in Catnap's eye.
"I… I understand, my lord."
Alex widened his eyes. N-No way! He's going to-!
Alex could only do one thing. He switched to his purple hand and shot both hands at Catnap before anything else could happen.
Both hands grabbed onto one of his sides and before the cat could even turn his head or see the Prototype charging his attack, Alex pulled with all his might.
Which actually caused Catnap to lose his balance just when the Prototype tried to stab him through his skull. Catnap fell to the floor, groaning from the pain. Alex realized the Prototype had actually hit part of his ear and cheek.
He didn't stay too long looking at Catnap, however. There was someone else inside the room that required his attention.
And boy, how much did Alex want to say what he was about to say.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM?!" Alex yelled at the Prototype. "YOU JUST TRIED TO KILL YOUR MOST LOYAL FOLLOWER!"
Alex waited for an answer, but it didn't come. The hand simply waited. "You don't want to talk now, huh? Well, I have a lot of things I want to say!" Alex continued.
"Why in the world did you just try to kill Catnap?! How can you have the balls to not show up for YEARS and then come when he can barely move just to kill him because 'he failed you'?!"
Alex was furious. "He sees you as his fucking god! The least you can do is show up when he calls for you, not when he's burnt to a crisp, you MONSTER!"
There was no reply from the Prototype. Alex and him simply stayed still, facing each other, waiting for the other to make a move.
And then he spoke.
"You are way more annoying than we could ever expect, Angel."
Alex widened his eyes when he heard that last word. That had been Dogday's voice.
"Wha- What the fuck?!" He yelled. "What did you do to them?!"
There was a loud rumble that sounded like… laughing. That bastard was laughing.
"Nothing. For now."
For now?!
The Prototype then turned to the still groaning Catnap. "Goodbye, Theodore."
And he disappeared back the way he came.
"BITCH, YOU BETTER NOT TOUCH THEM!" Alex shouted, but he wasn't even sure his words were even heard.
And Alex was left on the ground, still shocked by the exchange. He hadn't expected he'd see the Prototype until he actually went to face him, but he was proven wrong. And talking to him was as disgusting as Alex had thought.
I swear if he lays a single finger on them…
Then his mind went to think about that last word. How had the Prototype used Dogday's voice? Had he…
No. He refused to think that.
With a loud groan, Alex got on his feet, realizing that there was barely any Red Smoke left in the room and that he could breathe normally again. His head was still pounding though.
Then he turned to look at Catnap.
For wanting nothing but ending Alex's life a few moments ago, at that moment, laying on the ground, severely injured and moaning from pain, Catnap looked almost… pathetic.
"I hope you now realize how much he cares about you." Alex simply sighed, turning around and walking away.
He heard a shuffling sound behind him, but didn't pay it too much attention. That turned out to be a grave mistake, as not even two steps after, he was thrown and pinned to the ground.
He managed to turn to look at the one that did it, finding that it had been Catnap.
"You have to be joking…" The human muttered under his breath.
I should have listened to Poppy…
"You…" The cat growled.
"For the love of God, Catnap! I just saved your ass!" Alex yelled.
"That was the last chance… The last chance I had to make him proud… " His grip became tighter. "AND YOU TOOK IT AWAY FROM ME! AND NOW HE IS GONE FOREVER!"
"Make him proud?! Did your neurons burn too?! Open your eyes already! He wanted to kill you because you didn't do what he wanted you to do! HE DOESN'T CARE!"
"Quiet."
It seemed Catnap's intention was to gas him again, but nothing other than a weak cough came out of his mouth.
"All these years… All the effort… Everything I've done… It's now in vain because of YOU!" He shouted, yet again raising his claw in the air.
Alex closed his eyes, expecting what he had avoided for so long to finally kill him, but it never came. In fact, Catnap's grip became weaker.
Alex dared to open his eyes, and looked at Catnap.
His mouth was trembling and his eyes wet.
"I have nothing now…"
Alex's expression fell when he heard that sentence. That… wasn't the usual deep and growly voice of Catnap.
He was sobbing.
The one that had been torturing him for the past hours was now crying in front of him.
Alex needed to think of a way to fix the situation.
He squirmed away from the cat's grasp and got back on his feet. Catnap didn't try to stop him, since he was too focused on looking down to the ground with sadness.
"That's… not true." The human spoke.
That managed to make Catnap look at him, his look now annoyed. "Just leave." He said.
"No. You're going to listen to me. You know why it isn't true?"
"I know what you are going to say." Catnap looked away. "Just leave. Please."
"Hey. Look at me."
The cat let out a long sigh and did that. "The only thing you have lost is a relationship with someone that didn't truly care about you. You still have other people!"
A scoff coming from Catnap. "Like the Smiling Critters, for example? What a stupid-"
"Like me."
Silence then fell over the room. Slowly, Catnap's eyes turned to him. "You? And what makes you think I want your pity?"
Alex felt a frown creep onto his face. "It's not pity, Catnap. It's kindness."
Those words hung heavy in the air. It seemed it was the first time in a long while that Catnap had heard them. "After everything I have made you go through, you expect me to simply trust you to offer me ' kindness' without an ulterior motive?"
Alex sighed. "That's what kindness is, buddy. The Prototype told you a different story, didn't he?"
For the face he did, it seemed Alex was right.
Alex looked behind him, towards the elevator. "Listen, I have to go before the others think I'm dead. Just… stay safe. And please, please, don't go out to look for the Prototype."
Catnap simply gazed at him, his look unreadable. Alex had only one more thing to do. He walked next to Catnap.
"Also, one more thing."
Without giving Catnap any time to even tilt his head, Alex wrapped his arms around one of Catnap's legs in a hug. He felt the feline flinch from the sudden action.
"I forgive you." Alex added.
After a long while of that half-hug, Alex let go of Catnap's leg and glanced at him. His eyes were widened and it looked like he was trying to make sure that what just happened had been real.
Alex simply gave him a smile. "Goodbye Catnap. And if you ever… you know, need to talk, you know where to find me."
And without further ado, Alex left the room, leaving Catnap alone to his thoughts.
"I forgive you."
Those words repeated inside his head. Forgiveness. A concept so simple and yet so foreign to him.
Catnap had made mistakes in the past, and the only way he could achieve forgiveness from his lord was by punishing himself.
And yet, that human, after everything that had happened to him, after all the torture Catnap made especifically for him…
He had hugged him and told him that he forgave him.
Just like that. Without any sort of punch, blow, or scratch to his leg.
That human… What was he trying to achieve? Why was he being kind to Catnap? What was his goal?!
And then, slowly, the answer became clear, even if he didn't want to admit it.
The human didn't want anything in return. He was just being kind because he wanted to. Even when knowing what that entailed.
And Catnap couldn't comprehend it. Why?!
Why was he so shaken by that rat's action?!
That, too, wasn't too hard to answer. Because that human, in just a few minutes, had done what his lord never did.
Forgiven him with words from his mouth, while his lord had not shown himself for the last few years, and hadn't talked to him in that time.
The thoughts that Catnap had in his mind… It was heresy. The exact same thoughts that he had tried to get out of the Smiling Critters' heads. How the turntables.
Was he seriously considering… turning his back to the Prototype because of some words from a human? One of their tormentors?
No. Not because of some words.
Because those words were something that he had wanted, no, needed to hear from someone, and yet, it was a human who had said them.
Not his 'lord'.
Something fell from his eye. It was a tear. He was crying again. How long had it been since the last time he cried? Maybe even before the Hour of Joy.
That time… With Dogday…
Realization hit him.
What he had done. To him. To his best friend. To him and his other friends.
All because of what his lord…
No.
Because of what that liar had said he had to do.
Goodness, they all hated him. And it was only now that the fact hurt him. It hurt more than any self inflicted punishment he could ever imagine. And it didn't stop.
The things he had done to them. To Dogday.
To his best friend. The one that had been with him even before he was turned into what he now was. His…
And that very same person hated him. Despised him. Wanted nothing more than to see his head served on a plate.
And that was the same for the others too.
And then, everything he had been bottling up for years finally came out.
Catnap fell onto the ground, his body still aching from being burned, and sobbed. And cried.
And it just wasn't enough.
Crying wouldn't bring his friends back.
It wouldn't get Dogday to like him again.
From the corner of his eye, Catnap saw a piece of paper laying on the ground. He momentarily stopped his episode and walked towards it.
It was the drawing of him and the Prototype he had made so long ago. It must have fallen from that human's bag, which was stored in the same hatch that had been above him all the time.
A drawing that once had given him motivation to keep going, it now sparked something else.
Rage.
Without a second thought, Catnap ripped the drawing to pieces, before he resumed crying, curling into a pathetic weeping ball on the ground.
"I'm sorry…" He cried. "I'm so sorry…"
It was the first time in years he wished he could be hugging Nap.
Alex watched the scene unfold in front of his eyes from behind one of the corners.
He was really holding the urge to run towards Catnap and just tell him everything would be okay, but he couldn't. He had to go back to his friends.
At least he knew there was something up that hatch now, because that piece of paper seemed to have fallen down from it.
Trying to get the giant cat's sobs away from his mind, he took out the VHS tape and walked towards the player from before. He was very curious to see what it contained.
The fact the first thing the TV displayed was the Prototype's hand already put a frown in Alex's face.
"Log-code 24459. In relation, Experiment 1006, the Prototype."
Wait. That voice… Alex had heard it somewhere before.
Wasn't it… the same exact voice from that last tape?
Doctor Harley Sawyer…
Alex frown deepened. What more things did the guy have to say? Maybe he wasn't satisfied enough with experimenting on children for profit?
"Stubborn as he is, and always silent with each passing session, I'm still uncovering fresh data nonetheless. Today's discovery?-"
There was a sudden sound that startled Alex. It sounded as if the TV's audio had suddenly broken down, but as it turned out, that hadn't been the case.
"Hmph. End of log." Sawyer huffed. "Hmmm. Ready to talk now, are you?"
Ready to talk? What… Who is he talking to?
"I... Possess… A question."
Alex gasped. That was the Prototype! But… he sounded different to what he sounded like now.
"Go ahead…" The doctor hummed.
"Do you... Feel ... Anything?"
A sigh coming from Sawyer. "This question referring to what, exactly? "
"You stick us. Beat us. Tear at flesh. Do you feel it?"
Alex was starting to get worried. What the hell did that question mean?
"There is a secret inside you, 1006. Valuable beyond all measure." Sawyer answered. "I cut and prod and burn at it, and I get closer with each session…"
"Bitch." Alex huffed.
"So speak, or don't. Fight, or give in. Regardless, I learn something new about you every day…" A laugh. "It excites me!"
"God, I hate you so much."
There was a pause in the recording.
"Thank you." The Prototype said, causing Sawyer to let out a small hum.
"You... thank me?"
"Absolutely!" The Prototype replied with a cheery voice.
And then something that Alex could never expect happened.
"I learn something new about you… every day."
The recording ended with that sentence. It sounded as if Sawyer had said it. It was his voice. But… Alex knew that distortion and tone shift was typical of the Prototype.
Had he… used Sawyer's voice?
Alex did not like the implications of that. The Prototype… mimicked Sawyer's voice. He had done the same with Dogday's, if it was true he hadn't hurt them.
Was that… why the Prototype spoke in different voices?
That was bad. That was really bad.
Alex tried to calm himself down with a deep breath. He couldn't think about it now. He needed to go back to his friends.
Once he reached the elevator, Alex hit the button to go down, finding that it didn't move.
No matter how much he tried, the elevator wouldn't react. It seemed it was out of power.
"What?! How am I going to get down now?"
As if by divine magic, the platform suddenly began descending, making Alex stumble and almost fall. He simply waited until the ride was over.
Once back in the now gas free Gas Production Zone, Alex took a good luck around, finding it was empty and silent.
He was so tired.
Between overcoming the Red Smoke's influence and fighting Catnap, the only thing he wanted is to lay down and fall unconscious right there.
And he would have, were it not for the sudden sound of his telephone ringing. Alex instinctively went to get it, but found it he was next to where he had fallen to the ground when Catnap had first arrived.
He picked it up, sighing from the fact he hadn't even realized it was missing. "Ollie? Is it… you?"
There was a long pause on the other side, which made Alex worry. "Ollie?"
After a tense silence, there was a single word uttered. "Why?"
Well, at least it was Ollie the one that had called him. "Why what?" Alex asked.
"Why did you save him?"
Alex immediately frowned. "Ollie, I'm not in the mood to talk about it."
"Alex, Catnap was just about to get killed by the Prototype! He wouldn't have bothered us anymore! What do you think he'll do once he recovers? He's a monster! Look what he did to his so called friends!" The kid shouted.
"I said I'm not in the mood, Ollie!" Alex replied. "I did what I had to do. Period."
There was a really long sigh coming from the other end. It was the first time Alex had seen Ollie this upset. "You've made your choice, I see…"
Huh? That… is a weird sentence to say.
His usual voice now returned to him. "Anyway, the main point is: Now that you've won, you're one big step closer to the Prototype! One big step closer to winning!"
"Yeah, I suppose. I really can't wait until all this is finally over."
"Well then, finish the job! This win is yours."
"Thanks Ollie. See you around."
And the call ended.
Alex sighed. If Ollie was that mad at him for saving Catnap, he couldn't even imagine how the others would react. How Poppy would. How Dogday would.
"Hey- Hey! It worked!" Alex heard a voice yell. "Poppy did it! The human's here!"
Alex barely had time to turn his head and see all his friends (except Poppy) rush towards him from the same room Catnap had come from last time.
It was the second time in less than a few hours that Dogday had thrown himself onto him to hug him.
"Angel! You're alive! Oh goodness, I'm so happy that Catnap didn't kill you!" He blurted.
"Dogday! My chest! My back! Grargh!"
It took a long while for the dog to let go of him, and when he did, Alex was barely managing not to cry from pain.
"Sorry, Angel. I just…" Dogday tried to say.
"We didn't think you'd make it!" Nap finished for him.
"But you proved us wrong!" Day added.
"What do you do to win even when you have no chance?" Kicks asked him.
"I have luck. Nothing more." The human sighed, wincing from the scratches on his back.
Now it was Kissy's turn to hug Alex. Thankfully, she did it a lot more gently than Dogday did, but it still hurt.
"Alright, I get it! You guys were worried!" Alex chuckled. "But where is Poppy?"
"She said he was going to help you and ran off." Dogday exclaimed. "Then came back and said she needed help to get the elevator running."
"Well, I need to find and thank her! If it weren't for her explaining to me how that room worked, I wouldn't have lasted a second!" Alex exclaimed.
The toys looked at each other in confusion. "She never said anything about having talked to you…" Nap replied.
"What do you…?"
And then Alex remembered the tape. But… It couldn't have been him… What would be the point of that?
"Maybe the gas made you hallucinate having talked with her?" Day suggested.
"But he said she explained how the Safe Room worked! He can't have imagined that!" Kicks told him.
"Guys, calm down. Maybe she talked with him and she just didn't tell us." Nap finished.
Alex simply looked at them. "Uhh… I found a tape in the room." He stammered. "Apparently… the Prototype can mimic voices he's heard."
Silence fell upon the room as everyone's heads turned to him. "Angel… you're joking, right?" Dogday asked.
"Dogday, he used your voice to say 'angel'. I'm very sure about what I'm saying."
"You think… it was him?" Kicks shivered.
"What would be the point? He wants him dead, remember?" Nap replied.
"Yeah! Why would he tell the human how to win against Catnap?" Day added.
Kissy agreed with them.
"No idea. Let's just hope it was Poppy." Alex simply sighed.
"Speaking of Catnap…" Dogday interrupted. "What happened?" He asked, his face really serious.
"Is he dead?"
Alex could hear the question, even when it hadn't been spoken.
He unwillingly let out a nervous laugh. "Hehe… Dogday, you're reeeeally going to find this funny!"
Dogday's frown deepened. "Angel…" It seemed he was already expecting the answer.
Alex took a deep breath, readying himself to speak. "Well, it was a hard fight, but I managed to electrocute him and burn him in the end."
"Great!" The dog exclaimed.
The hell you mean 'great'?
"And then… well. The Prototype appeared to kill Catnap."
"Huh?!" The minis gasped.
"I know. He said he had failed him for the last time and tried to kill him." Alex nodded.
"Tried?"
Alex bit his lip at Dogday's voice. "Yeah. Here comes the funny part."
Another deep breath.
"I maaaay have used the GrabPack to get Catnap out of the way and save him?"
Dead silence. For a very long while.
"I think I must have misheard you." Dogday calmly spoke. "I think you've said that Catnap is alive."
"Dogday… I saved Catnap. He is alive."
The bigger dog clasped his hands together and took a deep breath, but didn't say anything else.
"Dogday?" Alex asked.
"Angel, you know I'll always support you and your actions, whatever they are." He said just before his face twisted into anger. "BUT YOU BETTER GIVE ME A VERY GOOD REASON AS TO WHY YOU DID WHAT YOU JUST DID!"
Alex recoiled back. He had never seen Dogday that angry. For the reactions of the others, it seemed that they hadn't either.
"He gave up following the Prototype. That's the reason." Alex replied, trying to sound confident.
Dogday's enraged expression slowly shifted into shock. "What?"
"Listen Dogday. Remember that thing I knew about Catnap that I didn't tell any of you?"
The toy nodded, remembering. "I do. Why?"
"It was his diary. I found it." Alex simply stated with a frown. "I read the contents. Before I arrived here, he was already questioning whether the Prototype cared about him or not. He was blaming himself for him not showing up."
Dogday widened his eyes. "I… don't believe you."
"You should. There was also a part that spoke about when you apparently betrayed him. He said that the Prototype told Catnap to hunt you all. Guess what the next page contained."
Before he could reply, Alex did. "I'm sorry. In the whole page. At least a hundred times. And on the next page, he blamed himself for feeling sorry for it and saying that expressing his emotions was not how he should act."
Alex could feel Dogday's anger disappearing by the second.
"And the last argument I have. When I left the Safe Room, I saw Catnap curled on the floor. Crying and muttering 'I'm sorry'."
Dogday turned his head up towards the Safe Room for a split second before looking back at Alex with a worried expression.
It wasn't too long before he huffed and looked away. "I don't care. He still did horrible things to us because of the Prototype."
"He was being manipulated, Dogday."
"And so were we. But he was the only one that refused to see it."
It seemed that Dogday was too stubborn to listen to reason. Could he blame him? Absolutely not. He deserved to be angry at Catnap.
"You don't understand, Dogday…" Alex sighed.
"You don't understand what's happened in these past years, Angel. Remember the fact I have been hanging from a cell without my lower body for all this time?!"
"Okay, okay." Nap suddenly cut the discussion. "We are all surprised that the human saved Catnap, but there's no time to dwell on it now."
Day sighed as he worriedly looked at Alex. "Right. There's the… thing."
The room was now filled with a tense atmosphere, different from the tension from before, and Alex didn't like it.
"What's going on?" He asked.
"Angel, follow us. Poppy told us we should meet at the Hatch Room." Dogday sighed, Catnap having disappeared from his mind completely. Yet, Alex knew it wasn't the end of the story.
"Is this about the thing she was going to get before Catnap showed up?"
Everyone nodded. He didn't like how everyone was on edge and nervously glancing at him.
He was starting to grow nervous himself.
So, once Alex hit the power button on the big machine, transferring the gas to the left side and getting the lights back on, everyone headed inside the Hatch Room (which was the same room where Alex had found the first battery for the Gas Production Zone) and waited for Poppy to arrive. Dogday was leaning against a wall, muttering something about 'how could he have let him live', Kissy was sitting down, hugging her knees, all the while the minis tried to stay calm.
And so, as Alex waited for Poppy to come from wherever she had gone off to, Alex caught a glimpse of something. It was the Catnap cutout.
If Alex had learned something about them, they apparently changed their lines depending on the status of who they were displaying.
And so, curiosity took a hold of him and he made his way next to the cutout. With a deep breath and expecting the worst, Alex pressed the button.
A snore came from the cutout.
Alex let out a confused 'huh'. That was the exact same thing it had said last time, the only difference being that the audio was slightly less distorted.
Alex pressed the button two more times, and yet, only loud snores came from it.
He was about to turn around and give up, but then remembered Dogday's own cutout and how it had said the same lines as usual before the last lines were added.
And so, Alex kept pushing the button. And it seemed his effort paid off.
On the fifth time Alex pressed it, there was a snore, as usual, but there was also something else. Alex didn't catch it very well, so he decided to do it again, but putting his ear closer. It was a snore, alright, but the sound that played after it sounded like…
A sob. A small and quiet sob, like one would let out while trying not to be heard.
Alex kept pressing the button. The sobs gradually increased their volume with each press, until the snores were completely replaced with silent crying.
And just when Alex was about to give up, he pressed it one last time.
"I'm sorry…" The cutout sobbed.
He widened his eyes.
"I'm so sorry…"
"I miss you so much, Dogday…"
"I… can't live without you anymore…"
"Please… come back…"
After that, the cutout simply let out sobs.
Christ, it's worse than I thought…
Alex made a mental note to find Catnap as soon as he could and turned around. He almost fell down when he saw Dogday behind him, emptily staring at the cutout.
His head then turned to Alex as his face shifted into a frown before he let out a 'hmph' and turned around to go back with the rest.
Alex thought he was imagining it, but he could swear he saw a hint of worry in his face.
Before he could ask, however, he heard the sound of someone crawling inside a vent.
As everyone perked up, Alex ran back with them, ready to find out what was going on with all that nervousness.
The steps from within the vent stopped for a second, and Alex heard a sigh.
"Good, you're all here…" That was Poppy. "And Alex has done it again. The impossible. Just like I knew he would."
"I don't know if that's a compliment or not." The human chuckled, rubbing the back of his head.
No one else seemed to be laughing. They were all dead serious, and even Poppy's tone was not his usual one.
"Catnap's gone, the red smoke is diverted... Everything is falling into place, thanks to you…" The doll continued from within the vents as she resumed her walk.
"Actually, Poppy, he's alive." Nap said.
Poppy stopped dead in her tracks, her seriousness disappearing. "What?! Alex, did you-?"
"Yes, he did, Poppy." Dogday replied. "I'm as surprised as you."
There was a long silence before Poppy sighed. "We'll talk about it later." She stated. "We can't waste any time. Even then, however, if we are to keep going, then…"
A dramatic pause. Alex suddenly heard the steps coming from above him. Poppy walked out of a vent duct and into a small raised platform, carrying a VHS tape on her hands as she refused to look at Alex.
The sight of the tape seemed to make all the toys shudder.
"Then you deserve to have the truth."
"The… truth? What truth?" Alex asked.
"You came back because of your co-workers. You wanna know what happened. And why." The doll kept speaking, her tone more and more sombre with each word.
Alex widened his eyes at the mention of that. Yes, it was true he had first came into the factory with the intent of finding out what happened to his friends and the other staff, but that had slowly drifted from his main objective to a side objective once he had realized what had truly happened with the toys.
And now, it seemed he would finally know.
Poppy raised the tape, making sure everyone below could see it clearly. "This... this is your answer."
"The tape?"
She nodded. "We called it: the Hour of Joy."
Alex once again widened his eyes. Those words. He had seen them all over Playcare, and he knew it was an event that had happened in the factory. But if that was the truth, then that meant…
The Hour of Joy is what happened that fateful day, on August 8th of 1995.
Poppy inserted the tape into a player that was on the elevated platform where she stood, and once she did that, a TV to Alex's right lit up with static.
Alex walked towards it, nervous to finally know what had happened to everyone.
The tape first displayed a black image with the text 'THE HOUR OF JOY' written in bold letters and occupying the whole screen.
Then, the video cut to what seemed like a security feed of the main lobby, a lot of people, both employees and visitors, walking around the area, with the Huggy statue standing there, just like when Alex had first entered. Everything seemed pretty normal.
Or so he thought.
Just when he was about to turn around to ask the toys what was in the tape to make them that nervous, something unexpected happened.
From out of nowhere, Huggy lunged towards one of the people that was just simply standing there with their paper bag, probably after buying some souvenir, and…
…
…brutally bit their head off, throwing the corpse somewhere.
He then proceeded to go for another person as everyone that witnessed the scene was now running for their lives.
What…
The video then cut to a shot of the Game Station. It was almost the same as when Alex had gone there the first time. There were at least seven employees running away from something. He didn't need a lot of time to figure out what.
A pair of familiar stretchy and pink arms descended from the ceiling, grabbing three of the scrambling people before lifting them up, making them disappear from the screen.
And then, they were let go as they were dropped on the ground, blood splattering everywhere.
The responsible, Mommy, then dropped from her spot and gave chase to the rest of the employees.
Another cut.
The screen now displayed a catwalk, and a person running down a few stairs before they were hit with at least five mini critters and another five mini Huggies. Alex could swear one of them was a familiar red colored one.
Another cut.
Employees hiding inside a closet. The door suddenly burst open as PJ burst in, with Bunzo riding on his back. They proceeded to…
…
Another cut.
One of the School's hallways was visible. An employee ran for his life, seemingly from a horde of Miss Delights. He suddenly turned to his right, entering a room, as even more teachers appeared from where he was running to.
They all followed the employee into the room, who knows what for.
Cut.
Two employees adjusting leather straps that kept who looked like Kissy tied. The giant suddenly broke free of those straps as she proceeded to launch one of the people away and bash the skull of the other in before she ran away somewhere.
Cut.
A hallway with a pair of corpses. A person running away as some sort of living jack-in-the-box monster suddenly blocked the way and then ate that person whole.
Cut.
Someone hiding behind a bunk bed in Home Sweet Home as Hoppy and Bobby killed any and all the adults in the room, the latter a bit less violently though. The person tried to get out of there, but accidentally dropped something.
Both turned in that direction.
Cut.
Playcare's central area, littered with bodies, as both Dogday and Catnap made sure that all of them were really dead, the latter even throwing one of them into the stairs of the Counselor's Office.
Cut.
Crafty rocking herself as she hugged her knees in a corner with a lot of bodies surrounding her. Some weird drawings and scribbles on the walls behind her were present, done with blood. The same blood that was dropping from her hooves. Her gaze was empty, and her eyes sometimes twitched involuntarily.
Bubba was also laying a small distance away from her, clutching his arm as hard as he could, blood pooling next to him.
Cut.
Picky, kneeled next to a corpse as she apparently ate the inside of the person as fast as she could. And for the looks of the yellow chicken crying and coughing blood next to her, that corpse wasn't the only thing she had been eating.
Cut.
Some sort of lion with what seemed like yarn instead of fur going on a feeding frenzy somewhere in the factory where Alex still hadn't been.
Cut.
A dinosaur with piano keys as teeth eating a person.
Cut.
A literal dragon flying after an employee as they were swarmed by other few toys that looked like some sort of Smiling Critters, but a lot more 'evil looking'. They consisted of the dragon, a bat, a frog, a shark, a rat and a crow.
Cut.
Another toy like the ones before, an alligator, sleeping peacefully.
…
And then a black sheep came running and trying to stab people with a knife as violently as possible.
Cut.
…
Shots of all the areas of the factory with the floor all full of corpses. Of dead people. Of co-workers. At least hundreds of them. Both employees, and visitors.
The last cut. The tape had ended.
…
Alex didn't know what to do. His mind was racing as he learned about what had happened on August 8th of 1995.
All his friends, dead, by the hands of the very same people standing a few steps behind him.
So many people, so many innocent people slaughtered. Why? A fit of revenge, Alex thought. It wasn't too hard to imagine why the toys would want revenge on those that had tortured them.
But they weren't the only ones that had died. Everyone present that day at that time in the factory was gone now.
Alex already had something like that in mind, even before coming back to Playtime Co. A whole factory of people didn't just vanish. Something had to have happened. And the reason as to why the police never found a lead was clearer than ever now. And then he realized.
Had he not called in sick that day, one of those corpses would have been his.
Alex had a hard time breathing. His mouth trembled as the little hope that letter had given him shattered.
They weren't alive. His friends were dead. They were long dead. That letter had been a way to make him think there was still hope of finding anyone, just so he dragged himself into the factory.
Alex's legs barely managed to hold his weight as he felt ready to vomit again.
Slowly, the human turned around, and looked at everyone. The toys. The same ones that had killed his friends, and looked at their faces.
They were all scared. Scared of his reaction. Scared of him abandoning them for what they had done.
"I remember hearing every moment of it…" Poppy suddenly spoke, snapping Alex's attention back to reality. "It went on so long. So agonizingly long…"
Poppy looked at him. "They tried to hide, to run, anything to stay alive... I remember their cries."
"'What's going on?'" Dogday said.
"'Why is this happening?'" Nap added.
"'What are those things?'" Poppy finished.
She took a deep breath as her face twisted into an angry one. "Senseless slaughter, that's all it really was. They killed everyone... The guilty, the innocent, didn't matter. All that death didn't fix anything. And then, once it was all over, they dragged those corpses down below where they'd never be found, and they…"
The doll squirmed. "...ate the bodies to stay alive."
Alex looked back at the toys.
"He said we would be free." Day mumbled. "That we would finally be able to regain the life they took from us."
"It was a lie." Kicks added. "And we didn't realize it until it was too late."
"And even then, those that tried to fight that lie…" Nap shuddered, looking at Dogday. "You see what happened."
"The Prototype has to die. For this, and for everything else." The doll finished.
"He didn't let us leave, Angel." Dogday said. "There was no other food source than the-"
"Shut up."
Alex's words caught everyone by surprise. "Just shut up. Don't mention them ever again."
There was a tense silence that followed, as Alex realized that he had to get out of there before he said something he shouldn't.
"I… need a moment. Alone."
And without any other word, Alex ran away from the Gas Production Zone, ignoring the shouts of the others.
He ran and ran. He didn't know for how long. He just needed to get out of there. Somewhere he could be alone and organize his thoughts.
He looked at his choices. He wasn't keen on stepping inside Home Sweet Home again, and the School and the Playhouse weren't safe places. And there was that inaccessible building.
Alex simply decided to run inside the Counselor's Office, where he crawled under the first table he found and cried.
Cried like he had never done before.
The employees were dead. His coworkers were dead. His friends were dead. And he was helping the ones that killed them.
And yet, there was a part of Alex that couldn't blame them. How could he? They had been tortured. Over and over again. Day after day, year after yera. Their lives had been taken away only to be turned into slaves.
The Hour of Joy was a long time coming.
But even then, they had killed everyone. Even Poppy had said it herself. Innocent people had died too. He was so angry. He wanted to go back there and beat the shit out of all the toys he had encountered. To bid them farewell and just turn around and find a way to leave.
And yet… he couldn't just abandon them.
They were just children. All of them. And yet, they had committed a massacre of such caliber. Why? Did the Prototype really orchestrate it like Poppy said? Did he really lie to them, promising freedom before trapping them in the factory? Was that what pushed them to do it? Or was something that they all thought of doing, and the Prototype was simply the one that gave the final push? After all, Dogday seemed very adamant on killing Catnap, and yet, the tape clearly showed the two working together.
Alex didn't know what to do.
So, just for now, he decided he could allow himself a moment to let everything out.
If experience had taught him something, it was that, sooner or later, someone would come and find him. Whether they wanted to end him or help him, he would find out later.
He couldn't take it any longer and simply fell asleep, tears streaming down his face as he cried the name of his old friends.