Stirring within his sleep, the opaque shroud of darkness just as dull as his senses, Gabe eventually started to regain his sense of self. His eyes fluttered open, his vision drinking in the sights assaulting him. The first thing he sees is that he is lying on the floor, his left cheek pressed against the wooden floor boards. He begins to move his limbs, even though fatigue was etched in every fiber of is muscles, he found some strength left to wake the nerves back up and push himself upwards.
Now back on his feet, he realizes that to his utter confusion, that nothing has happened to him. From what he remembers as he begins to push past the drowsiness clouding his mind and pick at the most recent memories, wasn't Catnap just with him a moment before he fell unconscious? He was easily within striking distance away from him. And yet, he's gone now? What made him change his mind?
Well what ever reason he's gone now, the generator's already on and now he can leave. Making his way out through the doorway, he passes through the caregivers lounge and heads towards the door leading outside. But when he opened it he finds a flight of stairs, not leading upward, but downward. With no other option he descends the strangely wide staircase and finds himself within a hallway, a very long hallway. Gabe guessed that the way out is much further than he anticipated.
Walking down the long corridor, his mind was stirring up yet more memories before Catnap used his smoke to knock him out. The tape, the folder, the experiments, the children. Why? Just why? Why children? Why couldn't it be anything else? There was a note that said they were experimenting with rats before and that they needed larger test subjects. They could have used cats, dogs, the fricking chimpanzees. But no. They used vulnerable, orphaned, children.
"They hurt children." He growled.
This thought burned within his mind with such intensity that the world around him went red for a second, anger of such magnitude that he didn't take note of the suddenly different surroundings. From once dilapidated and decayed now the halls are new and refurbished. The glass lantern lights unbroken, the wood floor immaculate, and even the wallpaper left unstained after a decade of no care.
Gabe soon reached a split in the end, different halls leading directly left or right. He didn't think on which direction to turn so blindly went to the right. But just as he took but a few more steps ahead, he hears a radio blaring. "Tragic news this morning. As of 9:45 a.m,-" Gabe turned and he sees that there is a radio sitting on a dresser cabinet. "-local authorities reported the body of a young boy has been found on the estate of the late Elliot Ludwig. An esteemed toy maker and founder of the Playtime.co company."
He remembers this broadcast, this was just a month before the disappearance of the staff. "A t this time, the identity of the child awaits official confirmation. Found in an upstairs bedroom in a large duffle bag, officers on-scene report that the remains appears to have been disturbed. Organs as well as key bones of the skeletal structure were reported missing from the body. It is unknown at this time whether this extraction was, in fact, the cause of death."
Even to this day this news broadcast still gave him chills. Especially considering this was Elliot Ludwig they were talking about. So many of the more senior employees spoke highly of him, during some of their talks in the cafeteria he would over hear one story where during his time in the hospital due to an accident that resulted getting his leg amputated, he said that Elliot personally invested giving him a new prosthetic leg. But after this news broadcast, he didn't know what to think. Then again, considering everything that has happened, he doesn't know what to think about Playtime.co.
Walking further on, he begins to notice that the environment around him changing slightly. The wallpaper gradually becoming more greenish in color, and now there are claw marks on the floor. Catnap's claw marks. He soon reaches another junction, and there is yet again another radio. "Following recent events, Playtime.co was asked for any comment regarding the discovery. This is what they had to say, quote: It's sickening. Elliot Ludwig was a great man, and those that knew him understood he was not capable of violence, let alone what others now claim. He had deep love in is heart for children like this one, making the actions of whoever planted this body all the more sick. We look forward to clearing his good name, both in the public eye and in the eyes of the law."
"̵̛̘̭́͝͠S̷͓͈̀͛̍T̶͍̫̎̍̊̍͜A̵̢̙̼͍̿̀̐Y̷̧͈̼̎͜ ̵̧̜̳̉̂͂͘ͅT̸̢͓͕̃̈́̒͝ͅṲ̴̹͐N̴͈̟̂̀̈É̷͓̟͒̏͋D̷͚͍̞̙̀̉̚ ̸̭̑̍͆͌͜F̶̱͔̗̔̿Ò̷̧̳̩̳̂̍͝R̶̹̾̀̆̾ ̵̝͈̆M̴̟͂Ọ̶̀̒͌̍R̵̩̰̞͗͒̾͠Ȇ̸̢̤͈̇́…̴̢̖̅̋̂͘"̸̤̘͆̋̈́͂
The sudden severity of tone in that last sentence made him reel back. Just what was that about?
Continuing on down the hallway, Gabe begins to notice the strange uncanny nature of these halls. Home Sweet Home may be a big orphanage, but the distance these halls stretch so far out, this shouldn't be. But yet here he is, walking through them. Many of the lights are either dead or dimly glowing a sickly green light, and the wall paper is starting to come loose from the seems. Wasn't it just mere moments ago that this place seemed so homely. Now everything feels sick, rotting. Dead.
There was then a sound that broke the silence, a phone ringing. He follows the noise to an open door within the dark corridors. The warm light of a lit lamp inviting him in bearing a stark contrast against the gloomy hall. He finds a dial phone sitting on a wooden dresser, whittled with claw marks. He pick it up to his ear, and he hears Ollie, and in a hushed whisper he desperately cries.
"You need to RUN!"
Wondering what he meant by it, he turns to the doorway, and sure enough he spots the looming face of Catnap just peeking around the threshold. Gabe gasps, and just as quick as he saw him, Catnap disappears from sight. Gabe hesitates to even leave the room, but this confirms that Catnap is still stalking him. He needs to leave, now!
Exiting the room he finds something truly strange. The furniture, once simply rotting away have now taken a more distorted disposition. He finds some of the furniture and appliances have somehow lodged themselves into the wall, as if they were miraculously merged into it. He even sees some defying gravity and hanging upside down on the ceiling. This ain't right. None of this is right. But he has to keep going.
The radio then blares again. Wait, a radio? But he doesn't see one anywhere. "Despite Playtime.co's proclamation of Ludwig's innocence, many believe his reclusive and mysterious nature displayed over the previous decades lends suspicion to this claim." The broadcast said from an indiscernible location. "When questioned, Ludwig's neighbors indicated that he would often return home in strange hours of the night, and depart again before sunrise. Some believed that he is sick, others that-"
"̶͙́D̶͎̀O̵̹̎N̶͔̒'̷̯̐T̸͎̃ ̷̛͈M̵̼̚Ȍ̷̟V̶͎̐E̷̯̊.̸̫̋ ̸̦̈́ ̶̖̈́D̵̽ͅÖ̷͖́N̸̞̈́'̷̘͐T̵̩͆ ̸̱̓Ṁ̵̪Ŏ̸̠V̴̹̕E̷̮͗ ̵͚̅A̸̭̕Ṇ̷͝ ̶͈͒Ị̶̿N̴̮̈́C̴̤͆Ḫ̶̑.̷̆ͅ"̷̮̇
"-Playtime.co, it seems, intends to keep Elliot's name within the brand regardless. What is sure to be a long legal battle to follow."
Gabe froze in place. Despite that threatening command telling him to, he allowed the implications of what those words meant to him. It all suddenly comes together, like pieces coming align. At first he didn't believe it when he heard the news. Elliot Ludwig, a man that has essentially defined a whole generation's worth of childhoods, a psychopathic child killer? How could it be?
But the notes in his office, that experiment on that rat, those notes were written by Elliot himself. And that was just the prelude to all the other experiments. Before even the creation of the Prototype. It all makes sense now. It's true, it's all true. Elliot did this. Elliot Ludwig is a monster.
And what is even worse, is that he should have known. Should have known of all of these atrocities. He knows because he saw it first hand. That day when he quit the company, he saw them torturing one of the experiments. Whether it be for science or sick pleasure he'll never know, but it remained the same, they had tormented children in ways thought impossible.
If he had just been a little braver, and a little better, things could have been different. But no. Instead he ran. Running away like a scared little child to a nonexistent embrace of a loved one. Running to nowhere except to walk straight back into the nightmare from which he abandoned. All because he was just to afraid to stand up like a man. All because he's a coward.
And to think, he has been taught from his earliest of years to live by the Lord's standards. To live a life without fear. What a hypocrite he is.
But yet he keeps marching on into the distorted halls. And so as Gabe walked further along through the corridors, past the misshapen furniture and bedroom doors chained shut, it felt as if the entirety of the factory itself is watching him. And sure enough once he passes a corner he finds most of the doors cracked open. Opened just a little enough to allow the unblinking stares dozens of fleshy human eyes to peer at him from the darkness.
Fear gripped the young man's heart, he didn't know wether he should turn back and find another way or to just take it. He decides to take the risk, sprinting down the corridor full of staring eyes. The eyes just simply watching on, as if they can see the fear through his flesh and into his soul, they seemed to relish seeing him act so pitiful.
Gabe eventually makes it to the end of the hallway, but it wasn't enough for him. Terror saturated every fiber of his being. He just kept running.
"Get up."
And running…
"Get up."
And running…
"Get up."
And running…
"Get up."
He soon finds that as he kept running, corridors to which he is running is becoming more and more distorted. Corrupted. The hallways have now become an irregular mess. Sometimes scrunching so short that it took mere steps to cross, sometimes so long that all the doors and furniture are extended along with it like that of a stretched rubber band. More hallways branched out, shifting from a linear corridor into a broken maze of halls, doors, and furniture. All lit by a deathly eerie green light just barely bright enough to show the rotting distortion.
Again Gabe refuses to stop, even as his lungs burned for air, he kept running. Panting like a madman.
"I find your presence intrusive, after all this time you return." An unknown radio blared, but Gabe didn't care, nothing will stop him even as this disembodied voice tore through his mind. "You come in here and you rip and tear down, you pillage and destroy all that I have built. Your presence was demanded 10 years ago, and you didn't show up. 8-8-1995, you were supposed to be here, why weren't you here? You missed the event, you missed the meeting! You missed the party! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE! 8-8-1995!!!"
Gabe eventually finds himself losing breath and stops for just a second to breathe. Nearly collapsing on his knees, his legs worn out and burning with exhaustion. He soon discovers, once he regained his bearings, that the hallway has returned to its normal linear path. The way forward is clear. But then there was another hallway that branched to the left. Gabe thought about ignoring it until he could see something in the distance. A brightly lit room.
His curiosity piqued, and he took the hall to his left and headed down there. Yet again the hallway began to shift, from the usual rotting halls of Home Sweet Home, to the grey concrete corridors of the rest of the factory. And yet strangely, despite crossing such corridors so many times now, this one felt…familiar.
He soon reached the end, and finds another room, but this one is separated by a glass window. The room on the other side of the glass looked clinical, white tile floors and plastered grey concrete walls, with a singular fluorescent lamp hanging above. But then, to his utter shock, Gabe can see that the room has an occupant. A giant purple feline sitting with his back turned to him, his back covered from nape to lower back with the fresh, bloody stripes of beatings and whiplashes. His wrists and ankles have broken leather straps on them, straps made to hold down such a large creature.
Catnap didn't turn to him, but Gabe can tell that he most certainly knows he is there. He seems to be writing something on the wall facing him, his razor sharp metallic claws scratching on the concrete's surface. And on it, Gabe knew this writing was for him.
"Guilt Haunts You."
The fluorescent light then flickers, darkness blanketing the room for just a brief second, and then flickers back to life. But now, the light above is now glowing a deep, blood red. Catnap wasn't there anymore, but instead sitting in his place was the form of a starving preteen boy, his gaunt, nearly skeletal hand laying flat against the writing in the wall. Then finally, the boy then turned to Gabe, slowly, showing his face mere inches a time. His face was indiscernible due to being covered in shadow, but yet still, the boy stared at him with the piercing burning white irises of Catnap.
Gabe backed away from the glass separating him and the boy. He couldn't take it anymore and turned tail and ran. But then he stopped in his tracks, it is just the same as before, running away with his feet tied and abandoning those that needed his help. Not again, he won't do that again. He turns back to face the boy again. But…there was nothing there. The torture chamber that Catnap was in just suddenly disappeared. It was like it was never there to begin with.
Once again Gabe failed to help.
Once again Gabe proved that he is still just a coward.
"It's." Gabe said sorrowfully as he continued walking along. "It's all my fault." There were then sounds around him, the sounds of children. Children crying, yelling, begging, screaming. The pain of thousands of kids pouring their cries into Gabe's mind, weighing in on his sinking heart. He felt like he is drowning. But yet he didn't stop, he just kept walking on, and on, and on, and on.
And then what felt like eternity. He finds himself wandering into another room, a medical bay for sick children. The beds and curtains separating them covered in mold and grime. The medical cabinets rotting from within. In one corner of the room there is a television with a VHS tape player attached to it. After looking around for a second, Gabe finds a tape sitting on one of the beds. Without so much fore thought he slots the tape into the player, and the video play with a still image of Huggy Wuggy's face.
"Greetings, employees, and welcome to your first day here in Playtime!" The recording said. "We're certain that in the days to come you will find your new family here as every bit as loving and supportive as your own."
Gabe wished that were true.
" Feel free to wander the halls. Sit in the mess for lunch. Or watch our children play and learn to their little heart's content. Join the innovationists, where the bounds of science are continuously pushed. Or join the councilors of Playcare, whose diligence and care for our children will help shape a brighter future. Just, you, see."
And yet they had ruined so many futures.
"Now, every one of you has your part in that future, so should you come back tomorrow feeling unhappy from where you are…or what you have done…worry not, for your supervisor is here and happy to listen."
"And…" The tone of the speaker begins to change. "Should you come back…years later…" Huggy's face soon fades from view. "Your conscience finally getting the better of you." And soon enough Huggy's face reappears, but now, has been twisted into a demonic appearance. Gabe simply watched, unable to look away. As if the message was pulling him in his full focus.
"May you descend into the dark and the dust. Finding all that awaits you are incomprehensible horrors. Each hungry for your return, each eager that they might find you. Perhaps, they'll smile at you from a shadow, their smiling mouths full of teeth, and meat, and plastic. Watching and waiting patiently for their turn at a warm welcome."
" Or perhaps, they'll won't allow you such time to figure out your place in the world that you left."
"A world, that's theirs now."
"̷̧̗̯̈́̎W̴̡̥̫͚̎E̸̳͚͝L̸̹̄Ć̴̰͑͝O̴̓̆̎͜M̵̝̲̃ͅÈ̸̯͓ ̷͇̟̣͚͒͋̽͝Ḧ̴̠̞́O̵̢̝͖̱̍͂̕M̴̧͕̑̇E̴̘͍̠͋̃.̷̩͉̋̊̓"̸̢̞͎̬́
Suddenly the TV began to glow brighter, and an eerie growl was heard just behind the screen. Gabe leaned in wondering what it could be, until a large, yellow hand reached out from the screen. Gasping and leaping backwards, Gabe fell to the floor on his rear as he watched a demonic Huggy crawled its way out, its body materializing from the static and glitching filaments. It's arms long and ending in yellow, long fingered hands, an open smiling mouth lined with long spindly fangs, and in the place of its eyes are nothing but empty, black sockets.
Gabe screamed and scrambled up to his feet, pushing himself up with panicked fervor. Running to the door from which he came but it was shut in, he started banging in it with all his might, trying anything to even budge it. Sure enough the door opens, just in time for the demonic Huggy to finally crawl completely out. He sprinted out the door as fast as his feet would let him, but as soon as he made it past the threshold all the bedroom doors on each sides of the hallway opened, and out from the darkness beyond each door a blackened red substance gushing out and covering the entire floor.
He had no time to think. Just run.
Running with fervent fear he check behind to see the Demon Huggy crawl under the threshold and begin chasing after him. Its body so massive that it had to crouch down to merely fit the hallway. Still Gabe ran on, the inky, blood-like fluid splashing under his feet, and even still the substance kept flowing in through the doors. The fluid soon reached his ankles and he started to struggle just to simply run. But he doesn't know whether if it was this fluid that is slowing him down, or his own soul crushing guilt.
The Demon Huggy is still hot on his heels.
Then as if the horror never wanted to cease, outstretched arms and hands began to rise out of the bloody ink, reaching out to Gabe. He tried his best to push the arms out of the way as more and more hands began to grab onto him. The pained screams and cries of hundreds of children resounded with renewed intensity. It was almost deafening. He can feel the pain and torment in the noise, shouting into his body, his mind, heart, and soul.
He kept running, no, pushing forward. Anything to get away from the hungry madness chasing him down. But no matter what he did, it wasn't enough to get away. He is not strong enough to run away. He is not strong enough to stand for what he believed in. He is not enough to satisfy his parents. He is not enough to help his brother. He is not enough to protect his sister. He is not enough to hold himself back when everything came crashing down. He is not strong enough. He is not good enough.
He is not enough.
The inky, spectral arms became too much for him. He is just too exhausted to carry on. He is then grabbed by the arms by the Demon Huggy's massive hands, the long blue arms then coiled around him with snake-like strength, preventing escape. The demon's mouth then spread wide to an impossible width. It took seconds for Gabe to be swallowed whole.
Gabe's eyes then shot open, and he finds himself back in the same halls of Home Sweet Home as he left. But it's not enough, he needs to run, he wants to get out of there. Scrambling up to his feet, he kept running as if he had never left the dream. Down the halls and corridors randomly and frantically, there was no rhyme or reason to his escape, only if it meant he just kept running forward.
He swore he could still hear the children's cries echoing out through the corridors. Or a fleeting shadow that resembled a face. His heart was beating like drum, fast and hard reaching a million miles per hour. Sweat built up in his brow and everywhere on his body. His muscles ached with fatigue despite, he is running on fumes at this point.
Soon enough, as if by a chance miracle, Gabe finds the door leading out. He busted through that door with such force that it would have torn it off its hinges. He stumbles forward, threatening to fall face first, but he is finally out. He's free, but not safe. He will run like hell to anywhere but here. Anywhere.
But then he was suddenly grabbed from behind, he is then turned around and tossed to the ground, pinning him. He looks up and to his absolute horror, he sees the blueish outline of Huggy Wuggy staring down on him. Gabe can already see the teeth showing as the lips unfurled to reveal the fangs. Gabe couldn't move, couldn't think anymore. Fear and pain consumed every part of his being. He can't hear anything, see anything, feel anything. There was nothing he could do but lay down, and die. And then, all he saw, was red.
"No! NO! Let go!" Someone cried out. And somehow, even to the monster's bewilderment, it was none other than Poppy. She then got in front of Gabe, placing herself in between the human and the monstrous toy.
"He didn't do anything wrong!" Poppy said before turning to Gabe smiling. "He's actually here to help."
The giant then released their grip on the human and rose to their full height. Poppy has a flashlight on her, so when the light ended up on the creature, it revealed that it wasn't Huggy all along, but instead his counterpart Kissy.
"Sorry, this place makes her tense." Poppy explained while Kissy put an arm around herself, feeling embarrassed. "We're just glad that Ollie has helped you this…far?"
But Gabriel wasn't moving, he isn't even looking at her. He just laid there, breathing rapidly.
"Gabe?" Poppy asked concerningly.
But still Gabe was unresponsive. His eyes seemed frozen in place, wide and bloodshot as he stared up to nothing. His hand clinching to the ground as if they would pull up the asphalt. His chest rising and falling at rapid succession as his breathing became fast and irregular. And when Poppy tentatively placed a hand on his sweat drenched forehead, she could feel the extreme heat rising in his skull.
But the worst part Poppy could tell, was that every breath he exhaled, a faint red mist shot out from his open breathing mouth.
"Oh no!" Poppy then came behind Gabe and tried to push him back upright. To which Kissy noticed and crouched down and pulled the human up to her, laying him down on her crossed legs.
"He'd breathed in too much of the Red Smoke! It must still be in his lungs." Poppy said fearful for her human friend. She then got closer to Gabe and helped position him so that while he is still kept comfortably secure in Kissy's grasp, he is being leaned forward just enough so that when the smoke is exhaled from his body it falls out to the floor instead of being breathed back in.
"Good! Keep him like that on you." Poppy said as she brought herself closer to Gabriel's side and attempts to comfort him. Despite being of much smaller stature, she tries her best to fully embrace him in a meaningful way. But thankfully Kissy is doing a much better job than her, who is now hugging the human tightly against her chest.
"Shhh. It's okay. You're gonna be okay." Poppy comforted.
After what seemed like minutes of never ending hyperventilating, the Red Smoke starts to dissipate from his lungs as traces of that red mist seemingly disappear. Allowing the young man to finally bring his breathing back to a more normal pace. Poppy can even tell that his heart rate is beginning to slow, which is good since it will slow the effects of the smoke in his bloodstream.
And then, after a few more moments of recovery, both Poppy and Kissy hear Gabe finally speak. His voice though, is small and weak. "Kids…gone...my fault." And just like that, exhaustion overtook the tired human, and he limply collapses unconscious into Kissy's embrace.
It was then that Poppy realized what has transpired. After making it out of the train wreak, Ollie told her that Gabe is already halfway in diverting the gas away from their objective, and was then in Home Sweet Home looking for the backup generators. Poppy figured that she will meet up with him there once he's done along with Kissy, who was in there as well. But it seemed that Gabe has found out more than he bargained for.
Poppy dreaded the moment when she'll have to tell him of the darkest secret of Playtime.co. But now it seemed that that part has been played out for her. Inside he must've found out the truth himself, whether it be some documents or some footage he found, but either way, he found out about the Bigger Bodies Initiative, and its true nature. And just after that, Catnap sic the Red Smoke on him, plunging him into nightmares of his own design. That sick bastard.
She hoped that somehow they'll find a way to be rid of that sadistic monster. It's what he deserves for torturing him.
Kissy was still holding onto Gabe, she chirped asking Poppy what they should do. Poppy thought about it for a moment, they were supposed to meet here and then turn the Playcare's power back on so it'll be easier to reach the other backup generators, but with Gabe out of commission now, they don't really have much choice in continuing forward.
"We'll have to wait." She answers. "We can take a break and then we'll continue on with our mission." She then climbs up to Kissy's shoulder. "For now, let's give Angel here some rest. He deserves it more than enough."
Kissy acknowledges and then stands upright, carrying both human and doll with her. There should be a safe room somewhere around here, ever since their first food supply ran out and everyone resorting to cannibalism, a lot of the more smaller toys hid out of fear of the much larger toys, especially the Bigger Bodies such as Huggy or Mommy. As such, while there are corpses littered all around, the open areas of the factory are remained mostly empty, reserved hunting grounds for the Bigger Bodies.
Though even still, there are many smaller toys still left, they're just simply out in hiding, doing everything they can to survive without resorting to eating each other. And Poppy knew it was because of the Prototype that things are that they are. By getting rid of him, and all his followers too, all the living toys of Playtime.co would finally be free, free to find other means of surviving without the sick mechanizations of the Prototype. Maybe even be free of the factory itself.
But after the rebellion. After they lost. Poppy lost all hope when the Prototype himself locked her in that case so long ago.
But now that Gabe is here, her Guardian Angel, she finally has hope.
And so Poppy and Kissy left the grounds of Playcare with Gabe in tow, searching for a safe place for them to rest. But little did they know, off in the deep shadows of the orphanage, Catnap is still watching them.
And his little game of cat and mouse is far from over.