Eight Friends at Freddy's 《Book2》

The Syndicate Theory

I let go of Jordan and followed Tom, passing Sonja cautiously. I wanted to rip the wires out of her head, but Austin and Ian were close by, making sure Arin was okay. I could hear them talk and discuss over what to do about me.

I looked away from Sonja's dead stare and saw Tom was climbing up onto the stage, glaring down at Jake. He squatted down and frowned at him.

"Listen here, punk," I heard Tom begin. Jake looked at him with a confused look. "I was a test subject before and I'm not willing to be one again. Got it?" Jake stayed motionless. "Now tell me how to get the fuck outta here."

Jake, mouth mangled beyond foreseeable repair, stared at him. Tom nodded with pursed lips and stood, jumping down from the stage and walking to the prize counter. By that point, Matt, Mark, Jordan, and the rest of us had joined me by the stage, the whole of us watching Tom.

He looked to the box and then to Jake. Austin and Ian were suddenly standing next to him, each with their arms crossed over their chest.

"Who is in here?" asked Tom. Ian grinned, his blue eyes glimmering in the lights. Tom looked to him and huffed. "Who is in here?!"

"You'll found out eventually," Ian said as if nothing was wrong. That was his usual tone. His smirk faded into a scowl as Tom threw up has arms.

"What the fucks that supposed to mean?" Tom inquired further. The two said nothing. Austin, smile stuck in place, looked to Tony.

"Give him the flashlight, Foxy, so he can show himself." Tony's jaw dropped and he looked to me. I shook my head. Tom groaned.

"Then follow me to the back room," Ian said, jumping off the stage flawlessly, "Mr. Cassell." We froze.

I watched as Tom's expression slowly changed from frustrated to compelled. He was entranced by Ian in some way, and because of that, he was following him out of the main room and into the shadows.

"No, Tom!" Jordan shouted, pushing past me. He freed me from my own trance and I ran after Jordan. We grabbed Tom's arms and pulled him back. As soon as we got him away from the exit, Ian started to change.

He pushed us three back with such force, without touching us physically, that we slid back to the middle of the room, Austin laughing hysterically. I realized after a second what had happened and sat up, feeling Tom grabbing my arm in return to get me to stand.

As I struggled to find my footing and Jordan's hand, Ian walked towards us, towering over us with darkness surrounding him and his eyes glowing a bright blue. They were as bright as light bulbs, but the anger in the kind shade of blue was scaring me so badly, I felt tears roll down my face. I screamed and hid my face, everything quickly stopping.

"Enough," Austin shouted. I opened an eye to see that Ian was sitting at a table, picking at his nails. I grabbed onto Jordan, clawing at his back to make sure he was really there. He was pulling on my tank top, doing the same. I shivered and looked at Jake. His eyes were wide. He obviously hadn't meant for any of that to happen. They were truly going rouge.

"Just get something to eat before heading off to sleep. Last game you didn't eat much," Austin snickered. He looked over at Ian. "Silly. You can't scare them to death quite yet." Ian shrugged and flicked something off of his thumb.

"Where's the kitchen?" Jirard asked. Suzy's legs went out from under her, causing Jirard to have to quickly catch her and set her down slowly onto the floor against the stage.

"I can show you," Ian mumbled, Austin's eye twitching.

"No, he can't. I can." Austin crawled off the stage and walked past us, then into a closed room. The lights were on inside and I saw some ovens. He looked back at us and waved happily.

The eight of us looked around and Matt stepped forward, following Austin. He walked in and Austin shut the door. I guess we were all waiting for him to scream or something. I turned to look at Ian as he stood from the table, brushing off his pants.

"While Freddy gets you all something to eat, I can get you settled in for the night. Like, beds and stuff."

"I wanna know why you and Freddy hate each other," Jirard spoke up. Ian walked over to him and picked up Suzy with such strength, I was amazed. BrutalMoose wasn't exactly known for being muscular. Jirard instantly went to grab him but Ian looked back at him and bared his teeth. It was quick, but I saw clear fangs and a twisted grin before he turned away and set Suzy on a table and put a plushie of Chica from the prize counter under her head.

"That's actually a good idea," Mark said. "Getting sleep. And something to eat." Jordan looked at me and nodded. Matt and Austin appeared from the kitchen with fries and pizzas. Matt was fine. I relaxed a bit.

"Eat, sleep, and we will wake you, probably, before the next night begins," Austin butted in as he and Matt set pizzas on the stage. Jake groaned and looked away from the food he couldn't eat.

We all cautiously went for the food, Matt giving us a nod to let us know it was okay. Jirard and Matt stood close to me as I took a couple handfuls of decently warm fries and a plate that Matt handed me.

"I'm working on a theory," Matt whispered under Austin and Ian's bickering.

"And I'm thinking of who the puppet is. I've got a couple ideas," Jirard added just as quietly.

"Good," I said, looking to Jordan and Tom as they walked down the hall to sit next to Sonja. Jordan looked at me and waved. "I'm planning out attack methods just in case we need them. We need to find weapons."

"Anything we can help with?" Matt asked. He stalled by picking at the cheese on his pizza slice.

"Rip the wires out of Sonja's head when you get the chance." I glanced up at Jake. He was listening to us. "They messed up and repeated history."

They left my side and were soon talking to Mark about different games as if nothing was wrong. Austin wanted it to be that way, it seemed, for he was smiling at them. I ate what fries I could before falling asleep on stage next to Jake, using my short as a pillow and Jake's discarded suit jacket as a blanket.