Prologue

The Last One

Fear.

Panic.

Dread.

Terror.

Seven years ago the night guard clutched his weapon into his chest and clamped a shaky hand over his mouth in attempts to quiet his haggard breathing.

Not an easy thing to do when your body is spasming uncontrollably, violently demanding oxygen in return for allowing you to make a mad dash to safety.

The man closed his eyes from the pain of his burning lungs and forced himself to listen for the clangs that would usually signal approaching danger. For a moment he couldn't hear anything over the pounding in his ears and he panicked at the loss of that one very important faculty. Sight was already pretty much gone if he wanted to stay hidden in the dark areas and smell could only help if he were sitting right next to one of them. Not making that mistake again...

He closed his eyes in relief as the pounding and the spasms faded and he let himself risk a slow draw of air into his lungs. It was another struggled to go slowly but he managed.

Why did he come back? Because he didn't believe he was in any real danger at first that's why. Just some buggy programming he said to himself. Just a prank on the new guy he said. He was an idiot! One more week and then the whole place is put under automated security. Perfect. Then no one will have to go through this ever again.

His thoughts came to a screeching halt as he heard the sound he had been dreading.

Clanking footsteps.

He froze hoping they weren't very close. You could never tell with this place. Everything echoes in just the wrong places and there were too many heart attack inducing corners to turn into while walking around.

He swore in his head as he realized the sounds were coming his way and he was laying in the middle of an aisle they could just glance down to see his silhouette. As quietly as he could he climbed into one of the bottom selves and laid down so that most of him was surrounded by wooden crates. There was a blanket lying on top of one so he pulled it off, wincing at the ssshhhhhrrreeee sound of canvas sliding against wood. He covered himself as best he could, leaving a tiny fold in front of his face that he could peek out.

Ten seconds later the clanging sound were definitely at the end of the aisle. Wait… there were two sets of footsteps.

They stopped and the night guard prayed that they would move on. Please just move on.

But they didn't. There was quiet whispering for a second before one of the sets departed and the other started to walk down the aisle the man was just in. The other set didn't actually leave though…unfortunately they started walking down the next aisle on the other side of industrial shelving he was hiding under.

They know I'm here! They're boxing me in! The man screamed in his mind but he didn't dare make a peep.

He almost gave himself away with a scream of terror when he heard another sound coming from high above on the tall warehouse ceiling. The sound was similar but it wasn't footsteps.

Cla-clang-cla-clank.

Cla-clang-cla-clank.

Not that one too.

Was this a sick team-up or did they all happen to track him to the same place? He wasn't sure which he preferred. Neither looked good for him.

His heart was starting to pound in his ears again, making it all the more harder to listen.

They were coming closer, all the while keeping a steady pace whether they were on the ground or the ceiling.

Clang Clang. Clang Clang…

Cla-clang-cla-clank….

Where were the other three? Last time he checked the stringy, creepy, black and white one was staying in the cage, while the bear and the weird short walking helium tank were in the other side of the building.

Then again he had thought the one on the ceiling was two floors up…far away.

He choked on his heart when one set of footprints suddenly stopped right in front of his hiding place. He could've reached out and grabbed its ankle.

Don't move…. He had to tell himself even though every fiber in his body was telling him to scramble out from under the shelves and book it as hard as he possibly could.

No. He wouldn't be fast enough, there was another one waiting on the other side, and he didn't think he could survive another mad dash like before.

He almost moaned as the scuffed up damaged legs in his view started to bend at the knees with a creak as they crouched down to look into his hiding spot.

He was as still as a corpse as bright green eyes came into view and looked over the blanket he was hiding under. But they didn't stop moving and it didn't look directly at his face. Maybe it hadn't seen him?

The eyes blinked as he held his breath, gray tinging the edge of his vision. The robot reached forward, intending to grasp the blanket and peek underneath.

This was it. He was going to die. Be a warehouse security guard they said. It will be nice and boring they said. Plenty of time to sit around editing videos! But no. Here he was, about to die a likely horrible, painf-

"T Bonnie! Over here! I think he went this way," the owner of the second set of footsteps suddenly said with a female voice.

The hand above his head froze, "You sure?"

"Um, not really," the second voice admitted.

Yes. Yes! Please be sure! He practically begged.

"But I think he dropped his flashlight when he ran past." There was the clicking sound of metal on metal as the other robot gingerly picked up the flashlight he had accidently dropped when he was scrambling to hide himself. His flashlight. His only weapon.

"Hm. Kay," the robot that was about to catch him straightened up and walked away to follow the other.

The man continued to hold his breath until the sound had completely faded away.

That was too close.

He let out a relieved breath that was maybe a little too loud for his liking and froze, fully expecting something to return at the sound. When nothing happened he chuckled slightly hysterically, his nerves still frayed and jumpy.

He had to move. It was tempted to stay in one place and try to wait it out until morning but they'd find him eventually. His best chance was to run around and hope to lose them in one of the Dead Spots around the warehouse if they got too close.

With that somewhat depressing thought he wiggled his way out of the tight hiding spot. Once he was out, he looked down the aisle on his left side. Nothing there. Good. Then he turned and looked down the other-

He turned his head only to get an immediate view of a cracked wooden white mask three inches from his own face with faded red lips and dull purple lines, flowing like tearstains from black empty sockets.

He screamed and fell backwards, landing on his back and cracking his head painfully against the concrete flooring. As he lost consciousness, the last thing he saw was a full set of silver, slightly rusted, very sharp teeth hanging from the shelving above him while flickering yellow eyes stared him down hauntingly.

"Hmph, almost too easy," the Puppet, or Marionette said as he walked around the unconscious night guard to let Toy Bonnie, Toy Chica, and Toy Freddy get a good look. His footfalls were eerily silent and he made not a single sound as he moved.

"This one was a bit of a doofus," Toy Bonnie scoffed, "Did he really think I didn't know where he was? Come on."

"How was my acting Puppet?" Toy Chica said cheerily. Her beak came slightly loose as she talked and she hurriedly adjusted it before it could fall off.

"Excellent," Puppet praised happily, as if he was a proud father. He glanced up to see Mangle staring at the human with a tired and frustrated expression as she shakily hung from the shelving over them, "Wonderful job with the cornering Mangle."

Mangle turned toward him and pasted on a smile that only lasted a second and only showed half her teeth.

Puppet regarded her for a moment but turned away before he could risk a frown, even if it would be barely noticeable on him.

Mangle cast one more glance at the human below her before scowling and turning to climb up to the rafters again, careful to keep any wires or loose gears from snagging on things as she went. She didn't have many left and it put enough strain on her as it was having to hang in one place for too long.

Puppet decided it was best to address the fox's slight attitude at another time. It wasn't causing an immediate problem for him. However…

"Toy Bonnie. Toy Chica," Puppet said.

"Yes Puppet?" Toy Bonnie said with rapt attention.

"You two can take him," Puppet said with a careless glance at the still human.

The blue rabbit and the chicken glanced at each other.

"What about you, Mangle and T Freddy?" Toy Chica asked.

"Mangle will join you if she's interested. And we," he gestured between himself and Toy Freddy who was distractedly playing with his ratty old hat. "Will join you as soon and Toy Freddy and I have a little talk about why he didn't participate as much as he should have tonight." Puppet sent a pointed look at the bear who flinched and looked downward.

Toy Chica sighed while Toy Bonnie frowned shrugged and gave Toy Freddy a similar look which was thrown back at him when Toy Freddy glared at him enough to make his ears wilt a little.

"Whatever," he muttered as he and Toy Chica each grabbed one of the night guards arms and started dragging him off.

The movement was enough to jostle the man conscious for a second long enough for him to let out a pained groan before passing out again.

"Hmm," Puppet said, "And remember…"

They stopped dragging for a moment to look back at the Marionette.

"Make sure he's awake when you start," the Puppet said darkly.

Sorry this wasn't posted first. This was supposed to be the actual Chapter 1/Prologue but I lost it. Oops. Then I found it and fixed it.