We Found One

By: Miss-DNL

"Hey, man! Okay, I have some awesome news for you!" Began Brent Weeks as he did his daily phone recording for the acting night guard Isaac Vargas. When the guy was first hired onto the staff he had to admit that the dude was rough, and not all that fun a guy. He certainly fit the bill for the typical gruff looking security guard though. Even if he was around a foot shorter, but hey, Brent couldn't say he looked all that imposing either. As they continued working on the place the fake guard eased up and turned out to be a pretty good drinking buddy.

In efforts to continue this new friendship Brent began leaving recordings to keep the nightshift up to date on things. So he wouldn't have to wait for a staff meeting. It was also kind of fun.

Grinning out of excitement he looked to a small stack of old cassette tapes that were lying next to a slightly less old, black, cassette player. He picked the top one up, examining it more closely in his hand. It was a bit scuffed up but he knew it, somehow, still worked fine. He continued his recording as he looked the tape over, "First of all, we found some vintage audio training cassettes! Dude," Brent gave a faint chuckle, bouncing the tape in hand, "these are, like, prehistoric! I think they were, like, training tapes for, like, other employees or something like that."

Brent shrugged regardless of the fact that it wouldn't be seen. He looked towards the purposefully grungy looking speaker that was in the corner of the hall outside the security office, "So, I thought we could, like, have them playing, like, over the speakers as people walk through the attraction." The man leaned back in the rolling chair, smiling at the thought, certain his boss would like it, "Dude, that makes this feel legit, man."

"But I have an even better surprise for you," Brent felt himself grin, now he was getting to the good stuff. Something that even had excited him, more so than even finding drawings or cassette tapes. He held the phone up closer to himself, wanting to be sure every word went through clearly, "and you're not gonna believe this-we found one. A real one."

Going to the old location of the last Freddy Fazbear's in town had been the highlight of this month. He'd always wanted to go into the old building, more so every time he passed the building on his way to and from work. The place looked absolutely decrepit, hidden behind apartments and a quickie store gas station. It was like the whole town was trying to cover up the place, without actually disturbing the building. On one occasion he saw a group of kids scoping the place, likely daring each other to go inside. Even with peer pressure they didn't try to get inside.

The inside of the building was even in an even worse state. There were holes in the ceiling and rubble on the floor. The place smelled musty, and just foul at times. Everything was worn by weather from the past thirty long years. Bret was certain there was mold growing in places. Passing the kitchen, he'd smelled rotting food. They hadn't even cleaned the place out upon closing it. There were even party decorations still littered about, tables set for an event that'd never happen. Dust floated in the air as it was pushed around by a faint breeze. All this led to an off putting atmosphere, like a warped childhood dream.

The self-proclaimed Phone Dude, Brent, loved it. Just going through the building had his mind popping with ideas for their attraction. They needed to replicate this as closely as they possibly could. His boss, so far, had listened to his suggestions, stating a horror fan and a follower of the Fazbear rumors would know what the public wanted. Brent; however, had to reminded himself to not get too authentic, they still needed to fix the possible fire issue…

A noise in the background caught Brent's attention. He leaned his head to the side, to try and see down the hall where it was coming from. Expression confused he stared down the gritty looking, dimly lit, hallway, trying to figure out what the noise was. Realizing the phone was still in hand he clumsily continued, "Uh-oh-uh, gotta go man-uh," Brent racked his head about where the animatronic had been left, but the noise happened again distracting his thoughts, "well-well look, i-it's in there somewhere…"

The faint noise was beginning to worry him as it went on, more so when other noises joined it. He couldn't tell exactly what was going on but it was definitely concerning. He needed to finish this recording off quick and see what was going on towards the front of the building. Had some teenagers slipped in trying to get a look at the place again?

"I'm-I'm sure you'll see it." Brent uttered into the phone, leaning his head further out. He'd hallucinated something before but never heard noise like this.

Getting back on track Brent popped the tape he had in his hand into the cassette player. "Okay, I'll leave you with some of this great audio that I found! Talk to you later, man!"

Pressing play on the cassette player the old recording began, the voice sounding slightly faded due age. Getting up from his chair Brent left the safety of the office to go investigate the noises. He reassured himself it was probably just a couple of teens trying to see what the attraction was like. To get a sneak peek before it was actually open. He'd done a few stupid things like that in his younger years. Hell, he was fairly certain he hadn't matured much. Only difference between him then and now was he paid bills and could legally drink.

Passing the dirtied Plexiglas window Brent could still hear the noises occasionally. Even with the recording going on he could still hear the subtle sounds, which on occasion were; for a moment, louder. It sounded like there was more than one of whatever was going on. Occasionally there was what sounded like metal, slowly creaking. Was someone messing around with a part or something?

"Uh, hello! Hello, hello! Uh, welcome to your new career as a performer slash entertainer for Freddy Fazbear's Pizza. Uh, these tapes will provide you with much needed information on how to handle slash climb into slash climb out of mascot costumes. Right now, we have two specially designed suits that double as both animatronics and suits."

That reminded him of the moment they found the hidden room-thanks to the help of the former construction designer. Cracking open the hidden room, the safe room apparently, had taken a bit of backbone but they'd gotten it done. Boy, that room had reeked worse than the rest of the place! He'd gotten hit with such a blast that Brent had to take a moment to gather himself while others went inside. Sure enough they'd found a withered looking Spring Bonnie sitting against a wall. Sadly, Brent hadn't gotten a good look at the robot, the others wanted to leave the foul smelling room soon as possible.

When they dropped the new, well old really, animatronic off in the attraction Brent finally got a look at the bot. If only for a few moments. Then his boss decided everyone take the day off, just in case they caught something from the old building. Brent hung around for a moment to look at their find until he got told to leave. Safe to say Spring Bonnie had seen better days. Someone in the group said they'd decided to change its name to Springtrap. Brent had to agree, it was a more suitable name for the attraction. It fit with the danger of actually using the suit as well. So, he gave it two thumbs up.

Amidst the strange, and gradually more unsettling, sounds a thought came to Brent. If this turned out to just be him hallucinating, he could finally get a good look over of Springtrap. Brief as the thought was, considering his possibly worrying situation, it caused Brent to form a small but short lived smile.

"So please pay close attention while learning how to operate these suits as accidents slash, injuries, slash death, slash irreparable, and grotesque maiming can occur."

Brent began heading down the eerily lit and old looking hall, the sound getting louder as he continued down. He winced faintly at the recording's description of what could happen to an unfortunate soul that fell victim to the suit. Suffering such an injury, or more likely death, in such a manner, what a terrible way to go. With Fazbear Entertainment's no liability clause, it was probably even worse on the family of the victim. As someone who looked into the franchise he knew it was pretty messed up, which is why it was so interesting to him.

The clause didn't just apply to the entertainers that wore the suits either. During his research into Fazbear's there was a few complaints from guards who refused to sign the paperwork, and others from ones who quit after one night. The latter guards were the ones that began the rumors of the animatronics moving at nights. It made Brent wonder was there something to the rumors? Freddy's did have a bloody past after all.

Brent came up on the old arcade section. Sadly, none of the cabinets functioned very well. Then again they were just brand games. Rip offs of more successful seventies eight-bit games. What brought his attention to the side room was a sharp sound of metal shifting. As he stood in view of the doorway Brent scarcely noticed the other sounds had ceased. All that was left to fill the air was a slow and creaking, leaving Brent on edge for the next sound.

"First and most discussed is how to operate the mascots while in animatronic form. Rest assure that is not an issue for you, as an entertainer. Our trained technician will guide the animatronic from the control room to the costume changing room for you."

Wait. He looked towards the end of the hall. Hadn't they left Springtrap around here? Where was the big bot? Wasn't like it was something hard to miss, it was a big, decrepit, bunny after all. They'd left it right in the hall, standing in plain view. Yet, it was gone…

Brent's thoughts were brought to a grinding halt when a weak, drawn out, groan dragged through the air. His blood went cold and Brent turned his eyes back over to the first doorway that lead into the arcade. It'd come from inside. A more curious part of him told him to peer inside and see what it was. The smarter half of him told him to turn around and book it to the exit. His shift was over, he needed to leave. He agreed with that part but, he couldn't get his feet to follow this train of thought. The sound of whatever was in there, moving slowly, shifting around, weakly moaning, had him stuck where he stood.

"To change the animatronics to suit mode, insert and turn firmly the hand crank provided by the manufacturer."

The sound in the room picked up a bit, although it was still sluggish the change was noticeable. His panic spiked as a result, mind coming up with worst case scenarios one after another. Brent, through his worry, came to a realization, he edged back a bit, it's trying to find the source of the noise!

Brent shifted where he stood, finally getting the fear driven nerve to move. It was halted as something came into view. His fears were confirmed when Springtrap slowly shambled towards the open doorway. The animatronic at first was staring towards the wall of the arcade until it twitched its head over to Brent's direction. Not only did that raise the hair on the back of the employee's neck, but the manner in which the bot was twitching so erratically sent his heart racing.

The Phone Dude's mind quickly put itself into overdrive trying to find a logical explanation for this. Maybe someone was getting it to move by remote control, maybe this was all just a prank. As much as he wanted to believe that Brent couldn't devote himself to that theory. The thing was so ancient and damaged by neglect it shouldn't be able to work right. The boss had even planned on getting it repaired so they could use it in the attraction! Then there was the glaring fact they didn't even have the equipment to remotely control it yet!

Then there were its eyes. Its glowing staring, twitching, eyes.

Something was not right with this animatronic and Brent's gut was more than agreed with his head. Springtrap's eyes were locked onto his, as if it was trying to decide what to make of the man's presence. Its head twitched to the side, then back again, and each twitch unnerved the employee more than the last. The animatronic's rank, rotting, odor caused a thought to horrifyingly go through Brent's mind. It smelled like decay.

On cue the recording he'd left playing said, "Turning the crank will recoil and compress the animatronic parts around the sides of the suit, providing room to climb inside."

The smell, the rotting odor. The reason the animatronic was moving around on its own without probable cause. Was it possible…

Brent's attention was diverted back to the animatronic when the machine began moving again, towards him. The man took a few steps back to keep himself out of arm's length. Its eyes were still stuck on his with no visible expression. Save the permanent grin caused by the mouth covering wearing away. Brent knew it wasn't actually sneering at him but it didn't help his nerves. Creaking with every movement the animatronic slowly, almost painfully, lifted an arm slightly. Its hand twitched, fingers jittering without cause, as it was hung out in the air. For what reason Brent didn't know and his building fear wasn't coming up with good ones.

Springtrap opened its mouth letting out another weak, hoarse, distorted moan again. It lingered in the air as it happened so slowly. It sent tremors of fear through Brent. Even with the dim lighting of the horror attraction the employee could see something inside the suit's mouth. An outline that moved in perfect time with the moan.

"Please make sure the spring locks are fastened tight to ensure the animatronic devices remain safe."

A person died inside the suit! Brent thought frantically, his heart racing urging him to flee from the unnatural creature. This time, there was no fearful hesitation the Phone Dude turned and ran for the exit. Brent didn't bother to stop and see whether or not the animatronic was avid about following him.

"We will cover this in more detail in tomorrow's session. Remember to smile; you are the face of Freddy Fazbear's Pizza."

Mind set on getting to the exit the recording finishing up didn't register to Brent. Barreling around the corner he came to a skidding halt when he saw another, almost burnt looking, form limping down the hall. Its movement was accompanied by the mechanical sounds of parts moving, and damaged animatronic feet hitting the ground. This one was bear shaped instead of a bunny like Springtrap.

"F-Freddy?" Brent stammered in confusion.

The only thing they had of the animatronic were parts of the suit, the head and torso. What was the titular Freddy Fazbear doing here? Once the bear animatronic lumbered to the end of the hall the bear slumped down and vanished from his sight. Brent stood mouth agape, until he heard the mechanical movements of Springtrap behind him. Knowing the exit was nearby the man rushed down the hall, running as fast as he could to get to safety.

Brent just passed the office doorway Freddy appeared out of nowhere lunging at him, arms outstretched to grab the employee. A ghostly, metallic screech ripped through the air as Brent screamed in fear.

Tumbling backwards the Fazbear Fright employee landed inside the office. In a panic Brent scrambled away from where the bear would be. He waited for a painful bite to come, but other than his back hurting as a result of the fall nothing came. Warily he looked up at where he figured the animatronic would be looming over him. There was nothing, just an empty doorway.

Carefully Brent Weeks got back to his feet wondering what had just happened. His heart racing, he wasn't sure what to do. Everything had gone to amazing to terrifying in a matter of minutes. His mind just couldn't keep up. His breathing was beginning to have trouble following the pace. Shifting away from the doorway he looked around, checking to see if anything else was going to jump out of nowhere at him. Then sound of metal feet hitting the tiled linoleum floor caught his attention. That's right he needed to get out.

Turning back to the doorway his eyes passed the sight of the spare items box, and with it he was greeted to the sight of a torched looking Foxy. The pirate fox gave a shrill screech and launched right at Brent's face, its sole arm ready to claw him. The scare was enough to make the man jump backwards into the wall behind him. He hit the wall hard and slumped down against it. His breathing becoming labored. Everything was fading into black and then back out again, something he was somewhat familiar with.

"I-I'm a hallucinating…" He uttered to himself in a hushed fit. He was sweating, breathing shakily and trembling where he sat against the wall. Brent sat there trying to gather himself, not even registering the time that was passing by. Finally, once he regathered himself, and the black creeping in from the edges of his vision vanished, Brent pulled himself up from the ground.

A creaking, jittering noise alerted him that he wasn't alone. Standing in the doorway was Springtrap, staring at him with white, glowing eyes. The hybrid animatronic just stood there staring at him. Brent felt fear riding back up on him, mouth quivering with a faint whimper. It was blocking the way out. There was no way he was going to chance running past a thing bigger than him. Then he remembered the gaping ventilation shaft on the other side of the room.

Yes! He could crawl though and go out the entrance!

In an instant Brent dove into the vent. Crawling through the dusty shaft as quickly as he possibly could. Surely the animatronic wouldn't be able to follow him, judging by how it shambled around. By the time he got near the entrance his clothing was scuffed and covered in dust from shuffling down the long ventilation shaft. Warily Brent pulled himself out of the metal tunnel. A small, weak, smile managed to emerge on his face as he laid his frightened eyes on the exit sign. Standing upright he moved forward to push open the door.

Out of nowhere a horrendous noise dug its claws right into his ears to the point it was downright painful. Clasping his ears tightly as possible with his hands Brent looked up at the source of the offending noise. The blood drained from his face as his eyes met the staring, silver-white, eyes of a fox headed animatronic dangling from the ceiling. He could scarcely make out a form aside from the head. It was like a bunch of burnt looking parts jammed together.

The sound only seemed to be getting worse the longer he listened it, a painful headache quickly blossoming in his head. He told himself to move but his vision began going black, faster than he took shaky steps away from the thing. All the while he stood there the thing began creeping down from the ceiling, working its way onto the exit. Silver-white ethereal eyes stared at him as it craned its neck out, as if to make sure he was listening to the painful noise.

His vision almost completely darkened, Brent could just barely make out the animatronic rearing its head back like a snake. It lunged at him and he blacked out.

An echoed clanking got Brent to stir from his unconsciousness. Mumbling to himself he opened his eyes. Doing this Brent realized he was lying on the black and white checkered floor of Fazbear's Fright. Quickly his mind got him back up to date about the living hell he was suffering through. The thudding noise coming from nearby redrew Brent's attention. He propped himself up on his arms, in time to witness Springtrap crawling out of the same vent he'd exited from prior.

The thing had actually followed him through the vent!

Rasping and wheezing like the trek through the vent had been an endeavor, the undead nightmare raised itself back up onto its metal feet. It stood there a moment, twitching erratically, registering that it had left the vent. A few soft whimpers drew the animatronic's attention back onto Brent. Shifting its feet, the decaying bunny turned itself to the man, starring down at him with its blank, dead, eyes.

Seeing it slowly approaching Brent jumped to his feet, bringing his hands up to himself to protect himself. Even if he was certain the thing could tear him apart. He took cautious steps back, stammering, "S-stay away, j-just stay back!"

The animatronic monstrosity didn't seem to hear his fear ridden warning and continued getting closer. As it grew nearer Brent unfortunately got a closer look at it, he could see old, mummified, flesh hanging down from the neck and the smell was becoming unbearable.

Every step away that he took the animatronic took two forward. It was only slight change but it was moving a little faster than before, and this time without the aid of sound to encourage it.

"Stay away, stay away, stay away…" Brent chanted as he gradually continued to move away from the mechanical nightmare. His heartrate was increasing and his survival instincts were going haywire. The dark fog was closing in on his vision again, as if just looking at the animatronic was causing him to slowly black out. Were these creatures the cause of the hallucinations, or was this just one big hallucination? Brent couldn't tell anymore, his mind was beginning to fade out despite his urge to turn and run. His body froze when a heavy hand fell onto his shoulders and suddenly every fiber of his being was super charged with fear.

Through the darkness he let out a yell and lashed out in pure terror while pulling himself out of Springtrap's light grip. He heard a snap, followed shortly by an almost hollow thud. Silence followed, the animatronic wasn't even so much as twitching anymore. Brent felt a cold fall over him, he'd made a mistake and he could feel it. Vision somewhat clearer he looked up at Springtrap, who was now missing the top part of his left ear. The animatronic was staring at him. Brent could see it in its silver-white dead eyes that something was slowly clicking inside its mind. It brought a sinking feeling of dread over the man.

Brent back away again, now halfway down the hall, as Springtrap began twitching erratically again. Its hands clenched as if in anger. The decaying bunny animatronic looked at Brent squarely in the eyes with a new, terrifying, focus. Springtrap's head lowered slightly, its eye glow seeming to burn more intensely, and it let out a long, distorted, shriek. It was the sound of aggression, and to Brent it sounded hauntingly more organic than the ones from his hallucinations.

With Springtrap clearly about to attack Brent turned and ran down the hall. Quickly his breathing becoming labored. The air, there was something wrong with it, but with his mind so muddled he couldn't describe what exactly.

The ventilation, there must something wrong with it! He thought through his rampant panic. His thoughts were quickly jerked from that as he heard the thunderous, metallic, footsteps of the attraction's star chasing him down. The animatronic was moving, much, much, quicker now and it was sending Brent's heartrate sky rocketing. Would he even be able to out run this thing now?

He turned the corner to the hall that lead to the arcade, behind him he could hear Springtrap slam into a wall. It screeched at the painful result of its fumble. Soon after Springtrap shrieked again, the sound of fury backing it more than the previous. Somehow, Brent got the feeling the scream was aimed at him that time.

The man skidded to a halt, seeing a small figure in the hall ahead of him. Before he could even process what it was a deranged version of Balloon Boy was all he could see. The former balloon vendor let out the same piecing cry as the others. Brent yelled and stumbled through his now almost pitch black vision. Breathing was become a painful task, and his head was becoming light.

No, no, no! Brent thought weakly as he tried to figure out where he was heading. His hands touched a wall then pushed through air. A wall then air, a doorway. Vaguely he could hear Springtrap behind him in the hall, likely recovering from its stumble.

Literally with no distinction as to where he was going, Brent rushed into the room and nearly collided with something. He squeezed his eyes shut willing himself to overcome the nightmarish haze. Reopening his eyes Brent, panting, realized he was hunched over an arcade cabinet. A rough, hoarse, growl from the hall outside caused another spike of panic in the man.

Head spinning, he part walked, part stumbled to the corner of the room. Brent squeezed his adult body into a space barely big enough for a teenager. Crouching down between two games, making himself small as possible, Brent pressed his back painfully into the corner. Wrapping his hands around the back of his head, the Fazbear Fright employee wished himself invisible to the terror that was after him.

More terrified than he'd ever been in his life Brent clenched his jaw shut, caging any whimpers that wanted to spring forth. This didn't stop his shaking, and barely stopped tears from forming in his eyes.

A single metal clank and he went still. Springtrap had entered the room. He didn't need to see it to know it was true. Brent clenched his teeth as he heard the rasping animatronic march its way into the room. No shuffling, each step was distinct and followed in proper time by another. Following every step was a pained creak of the old robot's aged joints trying to keep up with this new pacing.

Every so often there was a pause in the footsteps then animatronic's creaking would continue. It'd commence moving closer towards Brent's location then pause. The horrifying, carcass, entombed in the hybrid animatronic was searching for him. Brent could picture it in his mind, with more than enough detail. Stopping at each arcade cabinet and searching around it with its unnatural eyes.

Springtrap knew he was in here. Brent could only hope that the animatronic would somehow not notice him cowering in the corner.

For a moment, everything stopped, it almost seemed surreal. Had the animatronic left the room?

A rough, loud, creaking and foul smelling rasp shot his hopes before they could cement inside his mind. The breathing continued as Brent slowly looked up from where he was hiding. Unfortunately, his vision had cleared plenty for him. Looming in the middle of the two arcade cabinets where he was hiding was Springtrap. One hand on each game as if to further block its prey escaping. The animatronic seemed to be glowering at him with its eye lids lowered, forming a cold burning glare. Its permanent grin made the glare look sneering even, like the animatronic was twistedly gleeful with what it'd found.

When the decaying bunny's hand snatched Brent's shirt. The man screamed, the sound filling the horror attraction. His frantic struggling was to no avail. He was too worn from his torment to put up a sufficient fight. The animatronic easily reeled him in. Eyes burning into the frightened man's, the bunny reared its head back and let out its nightmare inducing shriek.

What followed was pain, just agonizing pain, as Springtrap clamped its spring lock jaws down onto Brent's head. There was a sickening crunch of his skull getting broken in. Brent writhed out of pain. All he saw was a red curtain of blood. Pain receded to cold numbness, and red turned into black.

When Brent went slack Springtrap released its victim. Letting him fall back into the corner in a crumpled heap. Right out of sight.

The animatronic slowly lumbered out of the room and began aimlessly stalking the halls of its home. Feeling a very faint sense of familiarity. It wandered all the way back to the entrance until it heard something familiar…

"Hey, man! Okay, I have some awesome news for you!"

Update: Okay, I edited this so it would fit more with the AU I've created, hence the change in Phone Guy's recording. This particular AU does not include Sister Location. It would not be compatible with my story and what I came up with before it came out. Also I plan on eventually expanding this one shot into a full story. However, this will take time as I'm working through a main story and from the beginning.

Author's Note:

Sadly I came to like Brent, but I also like the thought that the reason Phone Dude doesn't talk before each training tape after day two is because Springtrap killed him.

Originally I wanted to have him run into all of the phantom animatronics but that made it seemed forced so sadly no Phantom Puppet or Phantom Chica.

This story also goes along with my main story "Somethings are Better left Buried" and another one-shot "A real Monster"