Five Nights at Freddy's: The Silver Eyes(46)

Jessica and Carlton hurried away down the hall toward the second control room, but Marla and the two boys moved more slowly, sticking their heads into the party rooms, then the arcade. The rooms appeared empty, but in the constantly changing light, Jason thought, as they moved on, it would be easy to miss just about anything. Having checked the area, Marla and Lamar headed back into the main room.

“Where are Jessica and Carlton?” Lamar shouted over another burst of garbled sound. Jason stopped and looked back, and in a fleeting instant, he saw it: a rabbit, outlined in the hall for a split second as the lights flashed on him, then vanishing and appearing again as he disappeared into the party room they had just left.

“Marla!” Jason shouted, “MARLA!” His voice was shrill, agitated.

She whirled around. “What? Are you okay?”

“I saw Bonnie, he was there!”

“What?” Marla’s eyes went automatically to the stage. Bonnie was still there, moving back and forth in the same odd, spastic movements. “Jason, look, he’s there. He can’t move off the stage.”

Jason looked. Bonnie was there. I saw him, he thought, looking back down the hallway, but it was empty.

Jessica came running up, out of breath.

“Is everyone okay? I heard screaming.”

“We’re fine,” Lamar said. “Jason thought he saw something.”

“Where’s Carlton?” Marla said. She rubbed her temples. “Ugh, this light is giving me such a headache.”

“He’s still fighting with the controls,” Jessica said. “We should find Charlie and John; I think we need to get out of here.”

“I think they went that way,” Lamar said, pointing to the hall at the far end of the room, just past the stage.

“Come on,” Jessica said. Jason followed as the group crossed the main dining room again, maneuvering cautiously around tables and chairs. He looked back as they reached the hall: suddenly, Bonnie appeared again, darting out from the arcade and ducking into the hall that led to Pirate’s Cove. Jason watched his sister and the others file through the doorway, then slipped away before they could see him go. He ran across the room, intent on following the rabbit, then slowed his pace when he reached the dark hallway.

The lights in the little hall were completely out, and though he could see nothing, it was a minor relief from the pulsing strobes. Jason hugged the wall as he moved, trying to scan ahead of him for signs of movement, but it was too dark; his eyes had not adjusted. After what seemed like ages, he came out of the hall, and into Pirate’s Cove. From a distance, he could hear his sister’s voice, calling his name. Guess they noticed I’m gone, he thought wryly. He ignored it. He crossed the room and peered down the other hallway, the one that led to more party rooms, but it too was dark, and he could scarcely see more than a few feet ahead.

Turning back, he approached the little stage, the out of order sign still strung across it. As if anything in this place is in order. Suddenly, the curtain moved, and Jason froze. The curtain began pulling back. Jason couldn’t bring himself to run. All went dark, then the lights came on suddenly to reveal Carlton standing in front of him, having emerged from behind the curtain. “What are you doing back here by yourself? Come on, let’s go.” Carlton greeted him with a warm smile.

Awash with relief, Jason took a step forward, opening his mouth to speak—and stiffened, struck still with fear.

Bonnie suddenly broke through the darkness, appearing beneath the stage lights before them. But it was not Bonnie: this rabbit’s yellow fur was almost blinding in the light. He rushed at them, and before Jason could cry out the giant rabbit had hold of Carlton from behind, smothering his face with a giant, matted paw and wrapping its other great arm around his chest, gripping tightly. Carlton struggled silently, hitting and kicking, but the creature barely seemed to notice. He screamed into the rabbit’s paw, but the sound was swallowed whole. As he fought, the rabbit slunk back the way he came, dragging Carlton with him like a prize from the hunt.

Jason watched them go, agape. His heart was racing, and his breath was shallow; he was lightheaded, the air around him stifling. A noise came from behind him, the grinding screech of rusted metal beginning to move, and he leapt forward and turned, moving just in time to avoid a hook as it plunged swiftly downward. Foxy’s eyes flashed in synchrony with the lights above, and for a dizzy moment it seemed to Jason as if those eyes were the controlling force behind it all, that if Foxy closed his eyes, every light might go out. The animal did not move like the others. It slowly, purposefully, rose between the gap in the curtains, its gleaming eyes reaching a staggering height.

“Jason!” It was Charlie’s voice, he knew, but he kept staring back and forth, first at Foxy, then at the place where Carlton had been stolen away. “Jason!” She called again, and then she and John were beside him, touching him, shaking him out of his ghastly reverie. John grabbed his hand and pulled him into a run; in the main room the others were already halfway down the hallway to the outside door, all but Marla, who was waiting anxiously at the entrance, her face flooding with relief when she saw Jason’s face.

“Marla, Bonnie, he took Carlton!” Jason yelled, but she just put a hand on his back and pushed him through the door and into the hall.

“Go, Jason!”

“But I saw Bonnie take Carlton!” He cried, but he ran, afraid to stop.