Chapter Text
Ginny hated these hikes. She was more of the kind of person who could spend all day inside, relaxing with a good book or spending the day playing video games. Her boyfriend, however, was the opposite. He loved the outdoors, and she loved him so now she was hiking too. They’d started early morning and were now heading back. She hated the whole thing but loved the look on Darren’s face.
“How about we go out for lunch?” Ginny sighed, leaning against a large tree. “I’m starving!”
“Sounds good. I know just the place,” Darren beamed.
Ginny chuckled, knowing fully well she was about to go to some new, indie place with strange - albeit good - food. She didn’t mind though. It was something exciting and new, something her life was in much need of. She smiled at Darren, and he smiled back.
“Did you hear that?” Ginny perked upon hearing the distinct rustling of leaves and brush.
“We’re outside, G. There’s bound to be animals running around.”
“That sounded a lot bigger than just an animal…”
“I’m sure it’s fine…”
Darren looked around, shining his flashlight just in case. It never hurt to have a flashlight, so he always had a pocket one on hand. Flashing the light between the trees, he stopped upon the shadowy form shambling forward. He held the light there, watching the thing move closer. Ginny rushed over, clinging to him.
“What is that?”
“W-wait a second…”
As the light finally illuminated the figures, Darren felt his heart race. He’d seen documentaries and videos about finding lost hikers and things, but this was the first time he’d ever experienced it, and this was something more than just watching a dramatic reenactment. He watched as two people stumbled forward onto their trail, a male missing an arm desperately trying to help a woman limping on bleeding ankles. They were both dirty, cut and covered in dried blood.
“Oh God!” Ginny screamed, rushing forward toward the two. “Are you two okay!?”
Darren immediately reached into his pack for his phone. The signal was weak out here, but he figured this was better than nothing.
“Ginny, stay with them while I go call for help!” Darren nodded, pulling items from his bag. “Here, give them some water.”
“Right,” Ginny hummed, helping the two individuals to sit. “Can you tell me your names?”
The man slowly lifted his head, taking the water and drinking most of it. Before finishing the bottle, he muttered, “Maxwell Barns.”
“Vi-Vivian Raine…”
Ginny nodded, turning to Darren. He nodded back, taking off down the path.
Max leaned his head against Vee’s shoulder. He couldn’t stop his eyes from closing, and neither could she. All the exhaustion they’d been putting off was beginning to wrap around them, comforting them to close their eyes.
“Max…”
“Yea?”
“We made it…”
“We did…”
“Oh…”
Vee blinked into the rain. She’d lost her train of thought, again drifting back to that week. She wasn’t sure if it was the gentleness of the rain on her skin or if it was because she was standing in front of the graves of her friends, but in a flash she was reliving everything all over again. It only took a minute in the world around her, but to her she spent another five nights out there, down to the second.
“Vee?”
Vee felt the rain slip away as an umbrella appeared over her. Max offered a weary smile as he held it up enough to shield them both. Vee smiled back, equally as weary. They hadn’t spent quiet time together like this since they were in the hospital after their rescue, and even then they were constantly surrounded by family, police, and media. It’d taken months for things to get this quiet, and of course, it was at a funeral.
“You okay?”
“Sorry, I lost my train of thought.”
“Lost it…or relived it?”
Vee didn’t respond. She didn’t need to. Max knew what she meant. They stood silently, looking down at the neatly carved marble stone placed in the ground. The letters were intricate and laced, delicately inscribing Cindy’s name across its gloss. Her birth year and the year of her death was placed underneath. She was eighteen, nineteen this past week.
“They don’t even have a body…”
“It’s only a matter of time. There’s still a petition to exhume the lake.”
“It took them a week and a half to find Tony.”
“I’m glad they found him at least.”
“Have you seen his mother?”
“No…I don’t have the courage.”
“Me either.”
Vee leaned a little more on her cane. Her legs were doing better but standing too long proved challenging. Never in her life did she think that she would regret taking her legs for granted. The joy of standing or playfully running were things she still had a long way to reach.
“Do you need to sit?”
“I’m fine.”
“How are your legs?”
“They say my calf is about healed, but my ankles were pretty mangled, so I’m still in physical therapy for a while longer.”
“It’s nice to see you standing. I know it was pretty uncertain for a bit.”
“Walking with broken ankles is never a good thing.”
“Could’ve been worse, I suppose.”
Vee glanced at Max from the corner of her eye. They’d somehow gotten used to Max’s missing limb, but that didn’t make it any less jarring sometimes. One of the first things done once they got to the hospital was surgery on Max’s arm. Once again, part of his arm was amputated, cut off above the elbow. It was for safety reasons, considering the less than sanitary means it was lost. Vee had one surgery immediately - to remove the bullet from her calf - and several others afterward - to repair her ankles. It turned out Ozzie had done a lot more than grab onto her ankles; He’d gripped so hard, with such force, both ankles were essentially shattered. While shattered, she was forced to walk the trek back.
“How’s your mom?”
Max smiled, glancing off to the side. Vee looked over, spotting Max’s mother standing not far off. She had her own umbrella, dressed in darkened tones as well. Vee smiled. She wasn’t surprised, after all, Max’s mother had hardly let him out of her sight since he returned.
“I don’t mind,” Max grinned. “In fact…it’s kind of nice, knowing she’s there, ya know? I’m not…as scared when I know she's there.”
“I know. Sometimes…I worry if I close my eyes…I’ll wake up there again.”
“Wake up, stuck and trapped, with no one coming to your rescue.”
Vee knew they were in different places for that nightmare. Max’s fear was waking trapped under that rock, unable to free himself, without anyone knowing where he was. For Vee, it was the cabin. It wasn’t a specific memory, but just being in the cabin, surrounded by the remains of her friends. Seeing Tony’s blood stained body, glassy eyes staring at her. Sometimes, when she laid down for bed, she feared she’d dream of horrible things that occurred at that camp, the children’s screams that echoed in the night.
“We’re thinking about moving.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Mom thinks it might be nice to live somewhere more…urban? It’s kinda funny out of context.”
“Don’t hear too many people wanting to move to more urban places, huh?”
“Don’t most people want to live rural or have movies lied to me?”
Vee laughed. It warmed her a little to do so. It felt like laughter was such a rare thing nowadays.
“What about you? Any plans?”
“Well…I don’t want to go anywhere before I finish my PT, and I’m not sure we should be going anywhere while they’re still talking about a trial.”
“The trial is a farce,” Max grumbled, rolling his eyes. “If they actually file it, more than likely, Fazbear will just pay us to never speak of it again. Fuck, they might try to sue us for damaged done to the camp and animatronics!”
“I still think the insanity plea might hold.”
“Maybe.”
The rain lightly pattered against their umbrella.
“Do you know…what they’re gonna do with them?”
“I haven’t heard.”
Vee lowered her head. After they’d been rescued, firefighters and rangers were quick to descend upon the burning campgrounds. Once the fire was out, the horrors that remained seemed all more apparent. Not only were the animatronics located, but as everyone began investigating things, bodies began to show. All it took was the discovery of one buried body for dogs to be brought in, and what followed was a mass grave. Not that Vee and Max were all that surprised. They doubted the amount of bodies found on land were comparable to the amount hidden in the lake.
Regardless, the discovery of the animatronics as well opened a can of worms. The discovery of the abandoned camp - even reduced to smoldering ash - was one thing, but when it was discovered the animatronics remained, serious questions were brought up and Fazbear Entertainment was forced to return to Westfield after years of absence in order to put of the metaphorical fire that was still burning.
Despite the outcry from the company to return their machines - which they refused to admit were willfully abandoned at the camp - the police held onto the machines as blue light revealed years of blood stains. Thus began a bitter fight between Fazbear Entertainment and the Westfield police, with threats of the Federal government getting involved.
Sally had been located within the canteen, tucked in a corner, with the heat having begun to melt half of her face plating. Vee tried not to imagine the little girl that Sally was, hiding in the corner of her safe place, watching the flames consume everything, including her. Knowing now that Sally had the mind of a little girl made all the little things she did before so much clearer. Even after years of being Sally, she was still a child inside.
Callie was found by the Firing Range. She was slumped against the gun shed, with an exploded shotgun shoved up her chest piece at the waist joint. Vee realized that was what Wes had been ranting about before, his destroyed shotgun. In the struggle, Wes had jammed the gun up the opened seam between Callie’s top and waist, firing into the internal mechanisms. Vee wondered if Callie was still awake - alive - afterward, if she was unable to move as the fires raged and she heard distant struggling and movement.
“Do you think they’ll be able to catch Ozzie?”
“Not without a scratch at least.”
As much as they wanted Cindy’s body to be recovered, both Max and Vee had warned the police about what lived in the lake. It wasn’t like their words could be taken for granted, as Vee had the wounds to prove that something did indeed live there, and it was common knowledge that the camp had a water animatronic. Still, the two knew that the police didn’t fully understand the monstrous creature that lurked there.
“What about Freddy?”
Vee shut her eyes, listening to the rain. This wasn’t the first time Max had asked about Freddy. Though Vee had explained everything to Max, he would still refer to Reagan as Freddy, though Vee couldn’t fault him for that. Reagan, herself, was rather dismissive about her name or pronouns. Still, Vee would always refer to her as Reagan, if only to keep the memory of that little girl alive. After all, she was the only one who saw what happened. Someone had to carry the torch.
“Knowing Reagan, I doubt it. She won’t let herself get caught, not without a fight.”
“He’ll become an urban legend if he keeps skulking around the woods the way he does.”
Vee noticed Max rotate his shoulder, his limb twitching. Whenever Reagan - Freddy - was brought up, Max would respond this way. His arm would twitch, he'd roll his shoulder, or rub his arm with his free hand. She wondered sometime if he could still feel the limb, the pain. He never talked about him, and she never asked. A silent agreement.
“What now?”
Vee looked up at Max, and the two stared at each other for a while. The hardest question they’d been asked lately, alongside the similar question of “what next?” There was a time when making plans for the future was full of excitement and dreaming, but now tomorrow was an unknown. Never before had they realized tomorrow wasn’t promised. Who were they to make plans for it?
“I…don’t know.”
“My mom and I are going to brunch. Did you want to join?”
“No…I think I’m gonna go home.”
“If you say so.”
“Thank you though.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Max?”
“Yes?”
“See you tomorrow?”
“Of course.”