The Heretics from Up Above [🄿🄾🄿🄿🅈 🄿🄻🄰🅈🅃🄸🄼🄴]

Chapter 2: The Factory

The ongoing thought of entering the building ate at me as I continued to look at it. The exhaust pipes weren't fuming with smoke. There were no cars in the parking lot. The roads weren't covered in skid marks. That was a clear sign that there was no activity in the factory. I remember watching Youtubers, and by that, I mean Markiplier and Super Horror Bro play this game, and fun fact, Poppy Playtime was originally going to start outside of the factory and not inside where it starts now. I took a deep breath and took my sister's hand. "Are we ready?" she asked.

"Yeah. Let's do this."

We walked together to the front of Playtime Co., opening the doors. Surprisingly, they weren't locked. That's always good to know... I guess... To our right was a gift shop. And on the left was the security room. "So... Where do we start again?" I asked.

"That's easy– Ooh, look!"

Charlotte held up a VHS tape, and sure as hell, there was a VHS tape player below a hanging television in the corner of the room. She walked to the player and inserted the VHS, looking up to see a plush hand on the screen. That was Huggy Wuggy's hand. "Hi, my name is Laith Pierre and I'm the head of innovation here at the Playtime Co. Toy Factory. If you're seeing this – then you're trespassing. Yeah, we play this little tape on loop whenever we close the factory for the day. So, trespasser. Just to make you aware. While we pride ourselves primarily on our high-quality toys and excellent childcare, we also pride ourselves on our security." 

The whole "childcare" thing was bound to come up later on. And don't ask me. Ask MOB Entertainment, the creators of Poppy Playtime. "For example, this facility is full of hidden motion triggers which, once set off, will set off the factory's emergency alarms and directly contact the authorities! And that's one of the more tame aspects of our security system. No spoilers... So you've got my warning. It's not too late to turn around. I just hope you're certain whatever you're doing is worth it," Pierre added.

And then it went silent with the soft sound of static in the background. I turned to see my sister still looking at the TV with Huggy's hand on it. "Is it worth it?" I asked.

Charlotte sneered and looked at me. "Yep."

Both of us high-fived and walked to the left, heading to the security area. But there was a problem; what was the passcode? "Hey, sissy? Can you go over there and look at the train's colors? The password comes in the form of its colors," Charlotte said.

I nodded and jogged past the Bron poster and to the gift shop, opening the doors. Looking up, there was a train going around on a train track. My eyes scanned the train and took in the colors. I'm thankful that a small notepad survived the crash. I took it out of my back pocket with a pencil and wrote the colors down in order (vertically). I then walked back to Charlotte and recited the color-oriented password. "So you said it was light blue, green, pink, yellow, and then red?" she asked.

"Yep."

She put the passcode in, and just like that, the doors opened. I grinned and we entered, seeing a bunch of screens were off. This must be where the people looked over the different rooms. Who am I kidding– of course they were here! I yawned and sat in one of the swivel chairs as Charlotte took another VHS tape from one of the desks. "I remember this one," she said.

"It's a guide on how to use the GrabPacks."

The aforementioned GrabPacks were in a compartment behind glass doors. And lucky for us, there were 2 of them. I leaned back as Charlotte inserted the tape, and the screen came to life. The eerie "It's Playtime" song came on, and BOY, you know how muchI love to use that for posts on Instagram! I even used it for a Catnap post on December 31st. The television showed an image of a yellow guy (probably a test dummy) with the GrabPack on. First, we would have to tighten the straps to our fitting. Then we have to hold both cannons. And we get to pull the trigger to fire, pull again to retract, and hold it to grip an object. We were to only fire at small objects or handles. As we watched, Charlotte came to sit on my lap. I wrapped my arms around her and lazily watched, slowly taking everything in. "Are you listening to it?" Charlotte asked.

"Yes."

The TV then showed that we shouldn't fire the GrabPack at a coworker, for it would cause injury. Way to show a dummy decapitate another dummy. Then the TV showed that we could use the Pack for rewiring. And then the glass door opened. Charlotte was first to grab her GrabPack, putting it on and adjusting the straps. I did the same, but then I realized that we had one hand. "Oh– We're gonna find the other one later," I thought to myself.

"Yeah, it won't take us long, though," Charlotte said.

Look, I don't know how she can read my damn mind, but hey. We're sisters. And we read facial expressions like smut books. ... Well, at least I do. She's not ready for the intensity. But when she is, I'll be there to guide her. We walked out of the security room, GrabPacks on our backs, and came to the front of the main lobby again. I took a look behind the Huggy wall that said "Welcome" better than my dad could and saw there was a blue handprint above the doorway. "Are we sure we're ready for this? Are we sure we don't wanna steal these GrabPacks and go annoy our parents if we find them?" I asked, looking at Charlotte.

She seemed to not be listening because she looked at me with a puzzled look. Good God. She was just toying with the VHS tape players. I exhaled and repeated my question, leading to her giving me a smirk. "Sucks to be mom and dad. We're living through a horror game without being sucked in like it's Descendants," she replied.

Fun fact, I wrote a Descendants story that I haven't published or finished yet called "Ways to be Chaotic." And of course, I got to be based on Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean, going under the false name Desiree Jones. Charlotte, back in that story, went under the false name of Tammy Tremaine, daughter of Lady Tremaine from Cinderella. Okay, back on topic. Charlotte walked to join me at my side as I shot the blue GrabPack hand at the print above the doorway. A meter slowly filled with blue light, and at full power, the door opened. We hopped over the metal bar thing they have at airports and Bass Pro Shops as we walked under block-like arches and into the main room where a giant Huggy Wuggy stood with his yellow velcro hand up. "And there he is..." I whispered.

Charlotte walked to the information stand before him and read aloud. "Huggy Wuggy. 1984. Playtime Co. has designed hundreds of distinct toys, but none connected with people more than that of Huggy Wuggy. Our founder, Elliot Ludwig, aimed to create a toy which could hug you forever! As is always true, Playtime Co.'s 4-Step Process to creating the most lifelike toys was a success! With a bit of string and polyester, our lovable, blue pal Huggy was brought to life! Huggy Wuggy has gone to be Playtime Co.'s most popular and best-selling toy so far!"

Now we had to go somewhere. I dunno where, but from the podium, Charlotte and I began to look for an opened door. But that's when I looked up to see Huggy holding a key. "You little–" I grumbled, taking the key with my blue GrabPack hand.

"Hey, sissy!"

Charlotte stood behind the giant blue Sour Patch Kid, readying her GrabPack. "Don't grab his ass," I said.

"You get his face, I get his butt."

I sighed and obliged, and on the count of 3, we launched our hands, mine slapping him in the face and Charlotte's smacking his ass. We did this for a good 2 minutes before stopping. "I got the key, sis. We can go into the Power room," I said.

Charlotte giggled and joined me as we opened the doors, opening another door in front of us. And so our adventure through the depths of Playtime Co. begins here.