The Life Behind an Animatronic IV- Solace

Chapter 13 - Difficult Questions

Happy, but focused on my task, I began peering into the dark buildings around that were shops. The snow was high enough to my knees and I had to trudge and wade a bit, but I didn't mind. I was nearly skipping to get to a weapon store.

I came to an area with a lot of bigger buildings with signs on them saying "store" or "center". Not catching what the other words said, I frustratingly had to guess what I needed. I decided to go to the one called "store".

I peered into the windows and into the darkness. Straining my eyes, I saw shelves of stuff and items. No one was inside. I didn't spy any weapons, but I wondered if I would find anything of the sort. I at least would be able to find something that would be good reading material.

I went to the door, assuming it would be locked. I saw that a chain had been wrapped around the handles and a lock was placed on the chains. I frowned at it, finding it annoying to have my task impeded, but I figured myself a bit of a crafty person. I studied the lock, then the chains.

I thought as to what to do, what my fellow animatronics would do. I studied the chain and picked it up and crouched near it. Nightmare and Springtrap were powerful enough to bite through metal, right? So maybe I could do the same with the chains.

I grabbed the chain and enclosed my mouth around it, my metal teeth scraping along the chain. Finding a good hold I began to bite down as hard as I could. It was painful for a bit and it took a lot of effort and gnawing, but I eventually got it to wear down. I paused to spit out the awful metal taste and continued to bite down.

Finally with a SNAP! the chain fell with a metallic coiling sound. The lock easily slipped off and fell down onto the snowy ground. I pushed open the door and ventured inside.

Being inside was a lot more inviting than outside. It was still cold in the store, but at least I didn't have to wade through snow. Shaking off the frozen water, I glanced around.

There was not much in here except for shelves lined with bags of goodies and other random wares. This wasn't so much a store as it was a small outpost, which caught me as odd since there were bigger shops next to it. Who would go here?

Apparently I would as I began to browse the shelves, looking for anything that was a gun or some other weapon. I couldn't find much, not even knives or anything of the sort. I wandered to the back, where there was an office and a computer inside. The computer was powered off and dark, the room itself almost pitch black.

I tried switching on the light, but after struggling with the light switch for a bit I realized that they wouldn't turn on. Frowning, I continued my search in the dark. I felt along the walls and shelves, but didn't find anything except a moldy apple and a small device.

Tossing the moldy apple aside, I took the device and studied it. It was small and shaped like a flat cylinder, and on top there was a little grate-like cube with the top missing, a gear on the side and a little lever. I tried pressing the lever but nothing happened. Rubbing my chin, I then looked at the gear next to it. Maybe I should move that to make this little contraption work?

I pressed my forefinger against it and shoved it up, but found that it didn't want to go that way. I then made it rotate downward, and as I did so it made a soft "ftch" noise. So there was something to this.

I did it again and it still made the same noise, but didn't yield much in terms of information. Scratching my head, I thought of possible solutions...And then it came to me! What if I were to hit the gear and the switch in rapid succession?

I did exactly that and I was suddenly met with light. It surprised me, but once I realized it wasn't going to lunge out and kill me, I stared more at it. I found myself immediately enthralled.