The Week Before, page 14
Every fiber of your being is screaming for you to look away, get away from here, but you have to see. You are standing right in front of the costume now, close enough to recognize the object in its hand as a large mobile phone.
“I’m so sorry,” you whisper.
IF YOU TAKE THE PHONE, tap/touch here
IF YOU REMOVE THE HEAD TO LOOK INSIDE, tap/touch here
You take the mobile phone, saying a silent “thank-you” and wipe it off on your pants. You scroll through the contacts. There are some entries named in codes like “Deep Dish,” and others are labeled “Backstage,” “Dining Area,” and “Restrooms.” She’s entered the numbers for every phone in the restaurant and home numbers for many of the employees. The last one she dialed is “Security Office.”
Heavy footsteps approach the door to the room you’re in. You see a shadow under the door.
You needed a distraction, and now you’ve got one. You press ENTER and dial the Security Office. Far off, you hear the phone ring.
The shadow disappears and the footsteps hurry away. You keep the line ringing and stand up. You place a hand on the Freddy head and say, “I’ll finish this.”
ADD THE MOBILE PHONE BONUS ITEM TO YOUR INVENTORY AND HEAD TO THE STAGE tap/touch here
Hoping to overload the animatronics, you flip all six switches to the “up” position. The switchbox hums and gets warm to the touch, and blue electricity arcs from the cables to every metal surface in the crawlspace. From below, the charging platform sparks and buzzes dangerously.
You clamber out of the crawlspace and slam the hatch shut. The lights in the Dining Area flicker. You may not have much time before you blow every fuse in the place. How are you going to get the animatronics back up on that stage?
IF YOU GET UP ON THE STAGE AND MAKE SOME NOISE, tap/touch here
IF YOU GO TO THE ACCESS PANEL AND START UP A SHOW, tap/touch here
Everyone knows the best way to fix a technical problem is to reverse the polarity. You confidently flip all six switches to the “down” position. The room suddenly becomes very quiet as the power cuts out.
You hear a mechanical kerchunk and red lights come on. The system has switched over to backup power, but the animatronics have already drained the battery almost all the way. By reversing the flow, you hope that getting them back on their charging plates will draw the power from their batteries into the backup battery.
You slip out of the crawlspace and lower the hatch. The lights are even dimmer than before. Now how are you going to get the animatronics back up on that stage?
IF YOU GET UP THERE AND MAKE SOME NOISE, tap/touch here
IF YOU GO TO THE ACCESS PANEL AND START UP A SHOW, tap/touch here
With the Dining Area clear, you head straight to the stage. Bronwen said you needed to get under it to fix the charging platform. You get to the hatch for the crawlspace and climb inside, closing it over your head.
Thick power cables snake out of the switchbox for the charging platform, more than there should be. And they probably shouldn’t be sparking like that. There are also six small metal switches, alternating in the “up” and “down” positions.
Bronwen didn’t tell you how to fix the charging platforms, but you find a scrap of paper crumpled on the floor. It’s a diagram of the correct positions for each switch, which seems to have been torn off and discarded. The first three switches are supposed to be up, the next two are down, and the sixth in neutral.
You restore all the switches to their original settings, but of course nothing happens. This isn’t going to stop the animatronics—they’re already powered up, so you need to short them out or drain their batteries back to normal.
IF YOU FLIP ALL THE SWITCHES UP, tap/touch here
IF YOU FLIP ALL THE SWITCHES DOWN, tap/touch here
You climb up to the stage and look out at the empty Dining Area. You picture it filled to capacity with kids and parents, like it was in the good old days. Then you blink, and everyone is dead, the tablecloths and floor slick with blood. You rub your eyes and shake your head. When you look up again, everything is back to normal.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” you say. Then you start clapping and whooping and shouting at the top of your lungs.
“Come and get me!” you call out. “Bonnie! Chica! Freddy!”
But they don’t come. Maybe they see through your ruse, or they’ve already left the building.
You laugh. After all this time, a week of sneaking around, making as little noise as possible, the moment you become an easy target, they’re nowhere to be found.
You sit on the edge of the stage, kicking your legs against it. It’s almost 6:00 a.m. You survived yet another night. You’re going to go home and grab Coppelia and get out of town. As far as you can go, farther than the animatronics can travel, even if they manage to recharge.
A shadow moves, slipping from the Pirate Cove. You forgot about Foxy.
But he didn’t forget about you.
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TO TRY THIS NIGHT AGAIN, tap/touch here
You hurry over to the access panel and open it. Inside is a small green LCD screen, a number pad, and a silver lock with a silver key already inside.
“That’s a security issue.” You turn the key and the stage lights come up, brighter than usual because of all the juice flowing into them. Energy crackles along the charging pads, but you hope the animatronics don’t notice.
There’s supposed to be a manual with a list of codes for songs and other commands, but you don’t know where it is. So you punch in some random numbers until music starts playing.
It’s an upbeat number with lots of bass. That should make Bonnie happy. The phrase “44—POWR UP YOR L1FE” appears on the display. One of your favorites!
The recorded announcer introduces the animatronics on the stage—and they come! Unable to resist their programming, Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica take their places. As soon as they step onto their charging platforms, their limbs go rigid and they start shaking and smoking. Their eyes light up and explode, showering the stage with sparks.
They scream.
Then the lights go out and fall silent. The animatronics slump, heads down, arms slack, puppets with their strings cut. Their fur is scorched and the smoky Dining Area smells like burned barbecue.
Sadness washes over you. Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica are dead. You succeeded in stopping them, but you failed your promise to protect them.
GO HOME tap/touch here
It’s still only 4:00 a.m., but you don’t see any point in sticking around Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, and you can’t wait to get home to see your daughter.
When you get there, all the lights are on in your house, and Coppelia is waiting for you on the couch in the living room.
“Hey. What are you doing up, kiddo?” You sit next to her and sink into the cushions. You didn’t realize how tired you are and how much your body aches until now. You feel like you haven’t stopped moving all night—all week. You’ve been running on adrenaline so long, it’s a miracle your body hasn’t completely shut down already.
“I had a nightmare,” Coppelia says.
You chuckle. “Yeah, me too. Three of them.”
“But it’s over now,” she says.
“Yeah.” Wait. “Did I say three nightmares? I meant four.”
“What’s wrong, Daddy?” she asks.
“I forgot about something … at work.” What is Foxy going to do there, all on his own now? They’re going to shut down the restaurant, this time for good. You’re sure of it. That poor old pirate.
Someone knocks on the door. Coppelia stands up. “Who could that be?”
One of the best things about your job was that work never followed you home. Until now.
“Don’t go near the door!” you shout as the knocks turn into slashes that reduce the door to splinters. Foxy breaks in.
tap/touch here
Coppelia raises her left hand and aims a gun at Foxy. You do a double take, wondering where she got it from. Then you realize it’s the water pistol you gave her the other night, painted black.
“ ‘Try holy water, death breath!’ ” She pumps the trigger and water shoots out of the tip. It splashes all over Foxy’s chest. Some of it gets inside through the tears in his costume. Something pops and sparks fly out. His eyes dim and he topples forward.
“Whoa,” you say. “You’re a natural. But where’d you get holy water from?”
She rolls her eyes. “It’s a line from, like, my favorite movie ever.”
It’s only when you hug that you feel how shaken up she is.
The next morning, a representative from Fazbear Entertainment comes to collect Foxy. She hands you a bill for more than you earn in a year: the cost of repairing the animatronics they say you broke.
“What about the people we saved?” you ask.
“That never happened. And if you say it did, you’ll go to jail.” She smiles. “You could always come back to work, with a new contract and a portion of your debt deducted from each paycheck.”
Absolutely not, you think. “I’ll consider it,” you say. You have your principles, and you’re honestly afraid to ever return there, but you owe them a lot of money.
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TO TRY THIS NIGHT AGAIN, tap/touch here
Coppelia raises her left hand and brandishes a ballpoint pen.
“I know they say the pen is mightier than the sword,” you say, “but they never defended themselves against a three-hundred-pound animatronic fox possessed by the vengeful spirit of a murdered child.”
She twists the pen and pulls off one end of it to reveal a flathead screwdriver. That’s one of the Freddy Fazbear Pizza’s Employee of the Month rewards!
She doesn’t wait for Foxy to attack. She lunges at him and jabs the pen into his left eye, the one not covered by an eyepatch—temporarily blinding him.
You both flee the house and get into your car, driving north as far as you can go. Coppelia uses the mobile phone to call the police to warn them about an animatronic on the loose, but they don’t believe her and suggest you both come in to file a report in person. She hangs up.
You eye the rearview mirrors, fearing you’ll see Foxy chasing after you.
“We’ll be all right,” you say. “He has to run out of power sometime. But there’s one more person we should call. Can you dial Mom?”
“You want me to call Mom?” Coppelia fiddles with the phone.
“Not your mother, Bronwen Light’s. We owe her our lives, and her mom deserves to know what happened to her.”
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“You make an excellent point,” she says. “I’ve got nothing.”
Foxy rushes toward her but you tackle him to the floor while Coppelia watches in horror.
When Foxy begins eviscerating you with his hook, she screams and picks up the phone. She weighs it, looking from the phone to Foxy.
“Run,” you gurgle.
She takes the phone and runs with it into her bedroom.
You hear her calling for the police, and then you black out.
When you regain consciousness, the door of Coppelia’s bedroom has been destroyed.
“Pel!” You cough. You’re cold and can’t stand, probably because most of your blood has seeped into the ugly carpeting beneath you. You grab the phone cord and pull it back to you, but it’s no longer attached to the phone. The end of it is roughly cut, like sharp teeth bit through it.
You lie on the floor, listening to sirens that never arrive and rewinding all your choices, trying different ones, hoping for a better outcome.
You don’t mind sacrificing yourself for your daughter, you only wish you knew she’d be all right without you.
As you slip away, you dream that Foxy returns to your home with Chica. Chica looks different without her bib. She leans over you, and in your daughter’s voice she whispers, “It’s me.”
TO START FROM THE BEGINNING, tap/touch here
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You decide to go around Bonnie to the other side of the Dining Area, and sneak to the stage from there.
You thought you knew your way around these vents, but you get impossibly lost after a few minutes.
I should be there by now, you think. It’s like they’ve moved around since the other night.
You crawl around for almost an hour without getting any closer to the stage or finding any openings you can exit from. You’re drenched in sweat and grime, and dead bugs and webs cling to your skin. It stinks and you can’t breathe; you swear that the corridors are getting narrower.
Then you hear metal rattling and the thumping of someone else in the vents, closing in on you quickly. Bonnie? Foxy? Who cares—you have to get out of there!
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You drag yourself out of the ventilation shaft and lie on the floor, trying to catch your breath. You’re so exhausted, you can’t even open your eyes or lift your head. From the smell of cleaning chemicals and the feel of the cool tiles under your cheek, you realize you’re in one of the Restrooms.
A groaning voice echoes around you. Someone is standing right over you. You crack open an eye and see a large chicken foot inches from your face.
Before you can react, Chica raises her foot and stomps on your head. Your skull cracks open like an egg.
TO START FROM THE BEGINNING, tap/touch here
TO TRY THIS NIGHT AGAIN, tap/touch here
Bronwen had said you need to get under the stage. You have to trust that she knows something you don’t—that’s why you’re here in the first place.
You crouch in front of the corrugated metal hatch in the floor and place your fingertips on it. You feel a slight vibration and heavy footsteps, moving fast.
Alarmed, you glance up at the stage, but the animatronics are still there. Then what—
The answer comes to you even before you turn and see him barreling toward you. Foxy.
Bronwen didn’t mention him, and of course his charging platform is over in Pirate Cove. He’s in even rougher shape than usual after last night’s attempts to kill you, and you suspect that he isn’t part of tonight’s escape plan. He might be feeling bitter about that. He might want to take revenge on you.
Or maybe he just wants to help the other animatronics realize their hopes and dreams.
There’s nowhere to run, so in a desperate attempt to stop Foxy, you yank open the access panel and turn the key inside to switch on the animatronics. You stab the song select button a couple of times to choose a performance.
But all that happens is Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica turn their heads to observe what Foxy does to you.
TO START FROM THE BEGINNING, tap/touch here
TO TRY THIS NIGHT AGAIN, tap/touch here
You open the access panel beside the stage. Inside is a small green LCD screen, a number pad, and a silver lock with a silver key already inside.
“Here goes nothing.” You turn the key and the stage lights come up at half brightness. You jump when the light illuminates a shadow figure behind the stage. It looks like Freddy Fazbear, but his fur is lighter, more golden, and he has no eyes. Even so, you know he is looking at you.
You also know that if you look away from him, you will be lost. You feel for the keypad and blindly punch a bunch of numbers to call up a song.
You recognize it at once: It’s “Everyone Needs Some Downtime,” a slow song that is usually played when kids are extra hyped up at a party, and just before the restaurant closes for the night.
The Golden Freddy giggles like a mischievous child and keeps staring. You train your eyes on him, forcing yourself not to blink.
The recorded announcer starts introducing the animatronics on the stage. Time passes and you think they aren’t going to come, until you hear their heavy footsteps approach and climb the steps to the stage. You want to watch to make sure they return to their positions, but you dare not look away from Golden Freddy.
Can the others see him? you wonder. They’re completely ignoring you.
Maybe because they figure I’m already dead.
Freddy starts singing, Bonnie rocks his guitar, and Chica struts her stuff. You aren’t sure it’s working, but as the song wears on—and it’s one of the longest in the catalog at seven minutes and forty-eight seconds—they slow down, slurring their words, and getting clumsy.
Go home, you’re drunk, you think, at the same time another, forceful thought intrudes with It’s me.
You see the words in your head. You hear them and you feel them. They hurt.
You wince and stagger under the weight of Golden Freddy’s mind. Blood trickles from your right nostril. You taste it, salty and metallic, on your lips.
The song ends and the animatronics fall silent and still. You risk a quick glance to the stage. Their eyes are closed. They’re sleeping.
You take a deep breath. It worked.
You turn back toward Golden Freddy and he suddenly appears in front of your face, mouth open and screaming.
You stagger and fall to your knees. Golden Freddy puts his hands on either side of your head.
tap/touch here
You should be able to tell whether anything is wrong with the charging platforms by checking the access panel. If something is amiss that can’t be adjusted from the manual controls, you’ll crawl under the stage like Bronwen suggested.
As soon as you flip open the door on the access panel, Freddy Fazbear’s head whips in your direction. You’re so surprised, you yelp and backpedal away from the stage.
Freddy’s eyes glow as he stares down at you. He steps to the edge and hops down to the floor. Thud. He walks toward you while the speakers play classical music.
You know you should run. You want to run. But you are rooted to the spot, waiting for him to reach you.
