Stained

Chapter 3

Her non-robotic voiced echoed from a faraway room. Chica is nearing you with her beak off again. She looks incredibly different without it. Part of you wants the yellow animatronic to stay far away and never come back and part of you wants to talk to her again.

Or at least to confirm that you're not a nutcase.

At 4:33 AM, you check a camera and notice a face you haven't seen before. It looks like a theater mask. That's when you inexplicably hear "Pop Goes the Weasel" playing above you. You look at the ceiling, then down again.

Chica is in the hall, not ten feet away from you.

Then, you see the head again, but only its eyes. They're right above Chica's head. You're so paralyzed you wouldn't move if your life depended on it. And it might.

The song stops.

"Night guard! Oh, thank God you came back! Listen to me, please!"

You can't decide how to react. Her beak is moving with each syllable, and you can see her articulations of consonants display themselves in ways no robot should be able to accomplish. "Uh... hi?"

"Hey! You can still hear me. Thank God!"

"I'm not insane... I'm pretty sure."

"No, no—it's fine. You're fine. Well, not necessarily."

"What the hell? Oh, shit—is Bonnie coming? Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck..."

"You forgot to wind the music box, but it's okay. I'm going to grab him, and you've got to take me and run! Please! I can't take it here! I need you to take me away!"

"Chica? Grab who? Oh, no... not this again! I'm talking to a robot I'm talking to a robot I'm talking to a MOTHERFUCKING robot...."

There's a scream as the face you saw on the camera lunges at you from the ceiling. This must be the animatronic that's connected with the music box! It's huge! It gets within six inches of your face when it's forced back. Chica's standing with the thing's leg in her hand as its head hits the floor, completely unscathed, albeit devilishly smiling at Chica. The giant puppet-like animatronic yanks its foot out of her hand and kicks her in her sensitive region.

She screams a higher-pitched scream than the puppet thing or Bonnie, one that is definitely not machine-powered in tone, and falls to the ground. The time is now 4:36 AM.

"Please, we have to get out of here! They're going to kill me!"

"Um... I... uh... well... um...."

"PLEEEEEASE! I NEED YOU, NIGHT GUARD! HELP ME!"

"I can't listen to a robot! This is why they send people to Arkham!"

"But I'm not a robot!"

"Yes, you are!"

She freezes. The masked animatronic does, too. Lying on the cold floor, the robotic chick whispers,

"I was human once, too."

At this point, you're not entirely sure what to believe. "What the fucking hell?"

"I was a girl once. I had blood and skin and even bluer eyes. Real ones."

"I—uh—I—erm—"

"I still feel things like you do, Night Guard. And as a result I'm going to die here one way or another."

"I'm so confused. You..." You pause, laugh a little, and then continue. "...are a robot."

"Horrifying, isn't it? Doesn't it just make you want to run in the opposite direction? Forget completely about Freddy Fazbear's? 'They're just robots, after all. They won't understand.' The rest of them are lifeless, soulless, and in possession of one directive: killing you, the predator. But I know what it's like to have emotion. I still do, between twelve and six AM."

"Well, I don't know... it's not as though this is a regular thing in my life. There is no way in hell I can believe you're part human."

"Give me your belt."

"What?"

"Give me your damn belt!" she yells.

You hastily remove your belt and hand it to Chica. The masked robot actually backs off to watch.

"I was human once. I'm different."

She takes the belt and holds it by the buckle.

"I promise."

And with that, she took the metal piece that hooks in onto her beak. It takes her several seconds of twisting to get it in.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

Her eyes are tearing up. Suddenly, the piece pops up a bit and a trace amount of blood begins to leak from her lip.

You pause for several seconds, in complete denial, before finally spouting out, "Okay. I'm too flabbergasted to talk now. I'll get you out of here if you show me how."

"Of course! Just take me away. Please!"

Either these robots have actually traumatized her (and Scott, apparently) or she's excellent at faking tears.

You slap the puppet-like robot back to the ground as it walks back to you and the duck and pick Chica up in your arms. She's significantly lighter than you expected, and she feels very delicate. She still displays the dark area on her face, and you can only imagine what her lower midsection is beginning to look like under her minimal clothing. You're running now, and you're darting through the party rooms when it suddenly dawns on you that you've just done what an animatronic duck asked of you.

"Just go that way and we're free!" she tells you. She's pointing down a hallway that's dark, alas you now recognize it as the corridor into the entrance room.

Suddenly, a pair of red lights appears in the darkness.

"What the fuck?!" you shout, feeling surprised that your heart hasn't completely disintegrated yet.

"That's Bonnie from the parts and service closet! Just kick him down and run! You're almost at the door!"

"That's not Bonnie. The blue thing was Bonnie!"

"That's the other Bonnie... an older one. He's all messed up now."

He's walking towards you like a zombie. You can only stand there, helpless. It's official—you've never been more terrified.

Suddenly, Chica looks up, raises her head, and kisses you on the cheek.

Holy fuck.

You are attracted to Chica.

You look around you and find a chair next to the wall, and you hit this mutilated Bonnie with more force than you're pretty sure you've ever exerted combined. His eyes blink several times, go out, and then he falls to the ground.

As you round the last corner in the front of the restaurant, the other Bonnie is walking toward you at a speed much greater than that of Zombie Bonnie. "I can't fight him again! He's gonna hang my ass!"

"Just unlock the door! Once we're outside, he won't recognize our presence anymore!"

The door is locked only once, and you have the key handy (thank God). However, you're holding the yellow animatronic, and the blue one is advancing at a terrifyingly rapid rate, making your motions slower and less controlled.

"Hurry!"

"I can't get the key in!"

"That's the wrong one. Use this one!" She grabs the one next to it on the shiny ring and you take it.

"He's gonna kill us!"

"Got it! Thanks!" You remark sardonically as you continue pressing the key in. Wrong direction. New Bonnie is ten feet away. The puppet man is suddenly behind him.

New Bonnie screams and lunges at your feet.