Karmas bitter but so am I (S.A.M.S.)

Chapter 6 - Drowning

(Narrators POV)

The road stretches out before them, seemingly endless, running on for miles under the streetlights until the luminescence fades off into darkness under the veil of night. They walk in sync with the flicker of the lights overhead, a purely neutral look adorning their face as they trot quietly over the cracked and chipped cement.

No one walks this road except them, now. The few remaining houses along the block have been condemned since the last time they came here, and the shop on the corner was closed after a series of fires that left the owners in severe debt, so there is really no reason for people to come here, anyways.

It's empty.

This street was never a very populated one in the first place, as this side of town was pretty rundown and usually only housed first-time homeowners as a stepping stone for bigger things.

A day came where Blood Moon swore not to hunt along this route as long as people occupied it.

Which is why the fires frustrated them. They didn't start them. They didn't allow any punks onto their street to hurt their special selection of humans, or destroy their houses for no reason other than sick amusement.

People enacting violence has always angered them, since it's a choice humanity chooses to make, whereas Blood Moon's own destructive habits aren't . Whenever they hear the whispers that spread endlessly behind their back, they think back to this street, to the people that would always wave at them whenever they strolled through wearing a face of flesh and bone. Sun's desperation to separate them from humanity only pushed them closer to the residents that resided here. With each snide remark, they sympathized less with their own animatronic kin and more with these societal outcasts, feeling more at home out here than they ever felt at the pizza plex.

This neighborhood also brings back memories that feel more surreal now than anything else. They can almost hear him still, motioning to various houses, pointing out obscure details under the veil of night that hung overhead.

And now, they must go back to the pizza plex, and never return.

Moon delivered the message that they've been both anticipating and dreading. Part of them is eager to finally end this, to start over without Eclipse hovering endlessly over them. The rest of them is wondering what they'll do without the drive searching and defeating Eclipse has provided.  

When they arrive at the daycare for the final stand, they aren't really there . No, instead, they glare into blazing orange eyes and find themselves on that street again, trotting down the center like they own the place because everyone else that lives there is too afraid to run off a couple of large robots. They meet Eclipse's challenge with a retort of their own, but they feel none of the fire they force into their words.

The moment their feet leave the stage and land before their creator, their mind is blank. Survival instincts override the sentimental wisps that float around their head, grabbing them with vicious claws, forcing them down before they can manifest into more intense feelings. They can't allow themselves to drown in the memories.

No, today they must swim . No swimming means no winning. Drowning means dying. Oil that is not their own means victory in the worst way, staring down at him and all his ruined glory with chaotic glints of excitement that don't reach their core. They live for the thrill, just as they always have, and yet...this is not something they enjoy. Living and enjoying have proven to be very different things, and, from that tired and yet furious look in Eclipse's eyes...they can tell where that lesson came from.

The body goes limp. They watch the joints stiffen, and then lose all tension in the span of a few moments. Sun has presumably dragged Eclipse off into their shared headspace to banish him.