Security Breach - Sequin

Hounding in the Dark

Care's friend had snuck into the PizzaPlex about a month ago. Since then, there'd been no sign of him and the PizzaPlex had closed. No one cared about some homeless street kid, and they chose to think he was dead. Care didn't think he was.

And that is why she found herself kicking in a boarded window at the back of the PizzaPlex. She had to find out what happened to her friend and why he'd joined the ranks of missing kids.

Care plopped to the concrete floor, standing and brushing dust off her hands. "Ick, this place is a mess. I thought they'd try to clean it and get it reopened." She then shook her head, "No, no, if they reopened, that would mean more kids go missing. It's better if this place stays shut."

Something clattered in the shadows. Care crouched behind a large bin and lowered her voice, "And it's better if I stay quiet." She huffed and ran a hand through her hair, tucking stray locks back into her headband, "Okay, if I were a ten-year-old boy with an unhealthy Freddy obsession, where would I go after-hours to meet him?"

She sat and thought about it until she was sure that no one was coming to investigate the noise. Then she snapped her fingers, "The dressing rooms!"

A low thud thumped through her shoes.

Care clapped a hand over her mouth. Right. Keeping quiet.

At least she had an idea of where to start looking. Now she just needed to figure out where she was and where the dressing rooms were.

Easy, right?

She peered around the bin. The room was dark and dusty and smelled like metal and stone. There wasn't much light aside from the street lamp outside the window she'd just squeezed through, and the only other light was from a red exit sign on the other end of the room. Shelves cluttered the space, some of them knocked over, and various objects were strewn across the floor.

"Did everyone just up and leave?" Care wondered. She shifted to sit on her knees so she could reach her backpack. Her missing friend had given her the bag a while ago for her birthday. He claimed that he "just found it," but Care was certain he'd stolen it. She didn't mind, though. Stealing was how he survived, and it's the thought that counts, right? Plus, she really liked the gift.

The backpack was a dark green cross-body bag that could hold a deceptively large amount of stuff while letting her keep it cinched tight against her back. The latter feature was nice since she hated bags that bounced around when she ran. She currently had a few snacks, a roll of band-aids, batteries, and a large flashlight which her friend had taken from a cop car.

She drew out the flashlight and zipped the bag shut. The tool itself was both a light source and a weapon, eighteen inches long and made of sturdy steel. As long as she could raise it over her head, gravity could do the rest to cause some damage.

Care hoped it would be effective on robots. Or on whatever was making people disappear.

She clicked the light on and swept its beam over the room. Not much new except for bits of scrap and wood. The light found a door marked with a staircase icon.

"That's a start," Care muttered. She shuffled forward a few steps and peered around, then hastily tiptoed to the door and pushed. The bar creaked as she slipped through. She turned and guided the door shut with her foot, cringing at its harsh click.

She turned the flashlight up. Stairs. Long, dark stairs.

And a weird scuttling noise.

Care took a deep breath, "It's fine. It's fine. It's just a really big, empty building with a lot of machines in it that are probably making noises. Or maybe they have a rat problem?"