Work Text:
The pay was shit, of course it was. As if Fazbear's Entertainment could afford to pay their employees well - not after the missing children incident, or the bite of '83, let alone the bite of '87. You think they should've learned from the first bite but instead of keeping the kids as far away from the animatronics as explainably possible, why not give them a 'tear apart & put back together' attraction in the form of one of the robots. It was obvious to you that it was just a matter of time until Mangle bit someone. And it was even clearer for you that said 'someone' would be a child - considering that adults never had a reason to get near Mangle.
However, after getting fired at the last restaurant - if it was even worth to be called such - the Animatronic Entertainment agency called their most loyal guard employee once again. This time it was different though, no shady restaurant with long, dark hallways, dirty walls and floors that looked even worse. No toddler trying to touch their favorite animatronic on stage even though everyone told them not to, and most importantly no grumpy or violent teenagers picking fights with younger kids or your colleagues.
And there were two reasons for that.
Reason one was that Fazbear's Entertainment reopened an old location as a new horror attraction - a haunted house to be more specific.
And reason two was, you were no longer scheduled on day shift. No more cleaning up after kids, no more yelling and screaming and hearing the same bullshit songs day in, day out six days a week. Your position was to watch the building at night, making sure no one would try to break in and steal something - you wondered who the hell would do that, it wasn't like Fazbear's Entertainment had stuff that was worth such effort - and to check that the building didn't catch on fire and burned down.
And honestly, the second reason why they needed a night guard was much more believable if you checked the setup they left you with. Everything was old, old enough to fall apart if you'd look at it angry enough.
With a sigh you opened the backdoor and entered the attraction. If you'd be a little younger you might find it scary, creepy even, but in your eyes the place just looked nasty, dirty and definitely not like a haunted house that was about to open its doors. But that wasn't on you, they only needed you here to sit in a smelly office, watch some shitty cams and to keep an eye on things. So that was what you did. You headed to your office, dropping your bag on the floor before you sat down.
“Do they even have real animatronics here? I doubt it at this point,” you mumbled to yourself as you skipped mindlessly through the cameras. You were so zoned out, that you didn't hear the sound coming from the huge vent right beside your desk, gears shifted loudly and dull bangs could be heard. Your eyes were glued to the screen though, that was until the noises got louder, now heavy breaths were audible, the dull bangs got louder as if someone was crawling through the vent right to your office.
Panic filled your mind and you switched from the building cameras to the vent cameras, checking if some kind of animal made its way into the vent system - at this point it wouldn't surprise you if a racoon family would live inside there. But the cameras showed you empty vents, and empty vents only so you grabbed your phone, turned on the flashlight and shined into the open vent right beside you and what you saw made your body go numb.
There was a giant rabbit crawling inside the vent, silver eyes had focused on you, making you its prey as it sped up. The greenish fur was worn, it looked older than you were and you assumed that either it was a new costume that was made for this attraction or - and that was the theory that made more sense to you considering that Fazbear's Entertainment doesn't even have enough money to play their employees properly - it was one of the older model suits, the ones from the first few restaurants back when they were called 'Fredbear's Family Diner'.
The suit had plenty of holes, one ear was completely ripped off, only the base was left, the other had way too many wires sticking out to be safe. Its hands were huge and heavy, the teeth that probably used to be white at some point in the suit's history were yellowish and underneath the suit itself was something that looked like skin, actual human skin. But that couldn't be the case, could it? You didn't know, but what you did know was that you wouldn't stay to find out.
As soon as your brain realized what kind of situation you were in, it sent you in a rush of adrenaline, causing you to run. Out of your office and directly into the horror attraction. Loud and heavy footsteps always followed you and you weren't sure if that was actually the case or if your mind just made that up to keep you running. Your little sprint didn't get you far, soon you were met with a dead end, nowhere to run and as you attempted to turn around and look for another way, the animatronic that was in the vent just a few minutes ago blocked your way, giving you a better look of his broken body.
“You're back,” a scratchy, deep voice said and for a moment you thought your mind was playing tricks on you, because even though there was clearly someone speaking - you assumed the rabbit in front of you - the thing didn't move an inch. “You always come back, don't you?” the voice added and the rabbit tilted its head slightly to the left.
You couldn't recall any memories about this animatronic, you haven't seen it in any of the restaurants you've worked in before and even if the pay wasn't great, it was enough to get you through life so you've been working for Fazbear's Entertainment for quite some years now. You did know about all that crap that happened in the '80s and how the brand never really recovered from it. You did know about the dude killing all these kids back then. But it was 2023, there was no way the murderer was still alive. “I've seen you,” the voice cracked near the end, causing a loud and violent coughing fit and you were able to see how the rabbit bent over, claws digging into the fur that covered its legs and how its jaw fell open, revealing a rotting human skull.
You flinched, stepped back even more until your back was pressed tightly against the wall behind you as you tried to seem as small as possible. There was no reason for that kind of behavior though, the animatronic in front of you had already decided that you're his prey, that he won't let you leave - at least not alive. “I've seen you and now, after thirty years they finally let me out so I can reach and grab you, innocent little child,” loud shifting of gears filled the corridor as the rabbit stepped closer, its jaw still hanging loosely. You didn't understand what exactly was going on, nor why this thing had called you a child, you were almost thirty, giving him no reason to call you a child.
The situation was too tense to pay any attention to the things that were going on around you, your eyes were focused on whatever it was that stood in front of you and its silver eyes that followed every single one of your movements. “The company managed to keep you secure long enough, now it's time to change that,” and as soon as the words were spoken, the lights shut off and you heard how the power shut down completely. You were sure the animatronic wasn't able to see you, it assumed where you were but as long as you remained quiet it wouldn't exactly know your position. But you saw the glowing eyes, eyes that were searching for you. And eyes that looked way too human for a metallic creature like this one.
You heard the heavy breathing that got closer, the gears that clicked and squeaked, the heavy footsteps that smashed down on the floor, metal hitting tiles. And you saw the eyes coming closer, but you remained still, no word said, no move made. It was too risky.
The nasty fur made contact with your skin, claws scratching along your cheek and even though you were sure this thing was here to kill you, it seemed almost careful. Its movements were hesitant, its claws could easily tear you apart there and then but they didn't, it just rested its hand on your cheek. “You are so fragile,” it murmured, “I could kill you like I killed all the other children before I got trapped in this suit, could rip your stomach open with my claws, smash your skull under my foot.” You shifted uncomfortably, tried to back away from the animatronic's touch - unsuccessfully.
The metallic hand wrapped around your throat quicker than you were able to react and cut off your air. Panic flooded your body and clouded your mind and you brainlessly pulled on the bunny's hand but that did nothing, if only it gave the rotten thing in front of you a reason to squeeze tighter. You were numb to the feeling of blood trickling down your neck, caused by the monster's claws that dug deep inside your skin, breaking it and covering your clothes and its fur in dark red. You soon weren't able to focus anymore and your vision got blurry, you felt the hand leaving your throat but you knew it was too late. The animatronic let go of you so abruptly that it sent you crashing down on the tiled floor. The mechanic bunny turned around and left without another word. Michael would probably find your corpse in the morning, he was supposed to carry this week's day shift after all.