"Jeff's Pizza..." Andrew said in disbelief as he looked upon the restaurant.

"To be fair, the original restaurant probably didn't stay open for too long after the murders." Millie said.

"Let's just get this over with." Andrew said. Millie and the Stitchwraith approached the front door. When Millie tried opening the door, she was frustrated by the fact that it wouldn't budge.

"Great. Now we need to find another way-" She was interrupted by a brick flying past her face and right through the window.

"Andrew!" Jake shouted. Millie turned around and scowled at the Stitchwraith.

"What?! Do you want to get in or not?!" Andrew exclaimed.

"Preferably without you throwing a brick at me, asshole!" Millie shouted.

"What's an asshole?" Jake asked. Millie covers her mouth in surprise after realizing she was talking to the spirits of children who probably didn't even know what a swear word was. Shit.

"It's a uh... I'll... tell you later." Millie said as she reached her arm through the window and unlocked the door from the other side.

They walked inside the dark building. Millie could tell that whoever was in charge of this place did a bad job of taking care of it. Everything was dusty and it smelled like mold. It took her a second to remember that this place was somehow still open to the public.

The Stitchwraith began to wander away into a hallway on the far side of the dining area.

"What are you doing?" Jake asked, curiously as Andrew approached a door that said "supply closet" on it. Andrew didn't respond and opened the door, looking inside the dark room that had a very faint metallic scent.

Suddenly, Jake remembered this room's significance to Andrew. This was the room he was killed in all those years ago.

"Andrew... I'm so sorry. Do you... want to talk about it?" Jake said.

"It's been so long, Jake. It's been so long since I've seen my family. I don't know what happened to them. I never tried to look for them. I could've, I know I could've, but I... I... I don't even know where my sister is! I feel so alone, Jake!" Andrew wept. Jake hugged Andrew.

"Don't say you're alone. You're not alone, Andrew. I know it's sad to think about, but even if they're gone... you can't be sad. You have to go on and be happy that they're resting." Jake said, shedding tears of his own as he remembered his own parents.

"Your parents..." Andrew said in understanding. Jake nodded. They hugged each other tighter.

"It's okay... it's okay because even if they're gone... they're still smiling, knowing I'll be with them soon." Jake said.

"But you could've joined them at any time... why? Why did you stay? You could've gone to heaven, so why are you here?" Andrew asked.

"Because if I didn't stay... we wouldn't be friends." Jake smiled.

"That's... that's true." Andrew said. He knew he had to accept the fact that he and Jake were friends, and they were going to stay that way until this mess was over. Even so, Andrew wondered if they would still be able to see each other again. Would they both go to heaven, or would Andrew go to hell? Andrew always thought he would go to hell for everything he did. He was the one who caused all of this to happen after all. Would he be forgiven for that?

***

It took everything thing Larson had in him to crawl. He no longer had the strength to stand, so he was reduced to an army crawl, but even that was starting to fail him. He could feel himself becoming slower, more sluggish. Whatever this infection was, it was only spreading faster.

"YOU CANNOT CONTINUE ON FOREVER. YOU CAN FEEL IT, CAN'T YOU? YOUR BODY IS WEAKENING."

Larson jumped at the voice. He looked around in a panic, yet he saw nothing, no signs of Eleanor. It must be just in his head, so he couldn't let it get to him, not now.

"YOUR ENERGY IS WASTED. WHY DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND? YOU HAVE NOTHING TO PROVE ANYMORE. YOUR JOURNEY HAS ALREADY REACHED ITS CONCLUSION. WHY DO YOU CONTINUE TO FIGHT FOR YOUR FAMILY IF THEY WILL NEVER ACCEPT YOU?"

Larson didn't listen. He kept crawling. He couldn't give in. He would not give in. He stopped when his insides felt like they were on fire. He began vomiting more of that vile black tar. It felt like he was throwing up his insides.

"YOUR FAILURES END HERE, DETECTIVE EVERETTE LARSON."

Larson couldn't move anymore. The infection was just too much. No motivation would save him now. Maybe Eleanor was right. What did he think would happen when he reached that mask? That it would somehow kill Eleanor all over again? That didn't work the last time. She just came back, and now that he was dying, there would be nothing that anyone could do to stop her. All he could do now was lay there and think about everything he had ever done.

Wait... everything he had ever done... that's it! He thought. He remembered that positive memories helped him escape her clutches the first time. When he thought about Tabitha, it weakened Eleanor long enough for him to escape. If he did that again, he would probably have a chance to at least stave off the infection for just a little longer.

He thought about his family again. He thought about the fishing trip he and his son went off. He laughed to himself about how big that fish was and how scared of it Angie was. He remembered his first date with Angie. He was a stuttering mess that day, but she was patient, and she listened. She helped him be better.

That's it! He started to regain the feeling in his arms and legs. Just keep thinking, dammit! He thought.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Larson ignored her. Despite her words, he tried his hardest to shut her out and focus his mind on everything positive in his life. That was the key! He just needed a little more time! That's all!

He thought about the day he became a detective. All of that training finally paid off. He'd finally achieved his childhood dream. Larson started to move his limbs a little more. He could crawl again. All he had to do was get up and walk! Get up! Get up!

Larson faltered when he began thinking about the things that came after he got his job. His divorce, his strained relationship with his son. He could feel himself losing his strength again. Eleanor's presence was getting stronger.

No! No! Stop thinking like that! None of that is important right now! Just go back to your first day, Everette! Larson encouraged himself in his mind. He willed himself to return to that day, to focus on the feelings he felt and only that. His mind returned to his feelings that he felt on that day, on every day that held some significance to him.

He was crawling on his hands and knees now. That was good, but still not enough. He needed to walk. He needed more time.

Finally, he focused on his most important memories, the happiest days of his life. He remembered when he married Angela, how he promised to be by her side and love her forever, a promise he broke, but that didn't matter now. He couldn't change the past, he understood that now. Next, he remembered the day Ryan was born. He cried tears of joy that day. He remembered how small Ryan was in his arms. So small and so innocent. That day, he promised to be a better father than the one he had growing up. Of course, like father like son, he broke one too many promises and he lost everything because of it.

That didn't matter anymore. The past was just that: the past. There was nothing that Larson could do to change it. He finally understood that he couldn't make up for his mistakes in the past, but he could still fix the future. That's why he had to walk, to love another day so that he could keep his promise of being a better father, a better man.

At last, he stood. Regaining his balance, he looked down at the veins in his arms, and he could hardly see them anymore. He held back the infection, but he didn't know for how long, so finding that mask had to happen soon.

He gathered up the strength to run through the factory, past all the piles of garbage. As he ran through the junk heaps, he recognized some of the objects in the piles. All of these objects were things that the Stitchwraith took. So, this really is the Stitchwraith's lair after all? He thought.

He saw the stairs and knew that that was where he needed to go. The mask was up there, he felt it, he remembered it. Somehow, it managed to stay in that exact spot for decades. Thank god, because he wasn't ready to look through all those piles just to find it.

He clambered his way up the stairs as fast as possible. He had to hurry before the infection took over again. Just keep thinking happy thoughts. Just keep-

Larson screamed and tripped as he reached the top, feeling the sickness within take over once more.

"WHAT MAKES YOU THINK YOU CAN RESIST ME? YOU'RE JUST A MEDIOCRE MAN WHO IS DESTINED TO LOSE."

"That's not up to you to decide." Larson hissed as he regained his balance and made his way across the catwalks and towards the mask. He could see it! It was just right there!

The infection returned stronger than before and he stumbled, falling off the catwalk but just narrowly managing to grab hold of the railing. He looked down. He knew that if he let go, he was dead. He had to endure this for just a little longer! Find more strength!

He felt his grip slipping. He had to be quick. He tried to focus on the day Ryan was born and screamed as he slowly started to pull himself back up. His arms hurt so much, but all he had to do was pull himself back up. If he did that, everything else would be easy. He pulled himself up a little more and grabbed onto the second bar. He just had to hoist himself over the rails and land on the catwalk. He really regretted not hitting the gym once in a while.

He was barely able to pull himself up and get back onto the catwalk. He laid there for a moment, catching his breath and giving himself a second to rest, but he knew he didn't have long. The infection was coming back and it hurt so much to the point where that was all he could think about. His mind was way too focused on the pain.

He saw the mask; it was just in front of him. All he had to do was crawl to it. He felt his heart tighten and screamed as he willed himself to crawl to the mask, inch by inch.

Finally, he made it. All he was able to do was touch the mask with his hand before the infection fully took over. Apparently, that was all he had to do. The mask glowed and it felt like his body was suddenly lit on fire. He cried out in pain, but he started to hear a different scream as well. He saw the black liquid in his veins starting to leak out of his skin and float upwards. Soon enough, the vile fluid flowed out of him and skyrocketed out of the factory.

Larson laid there, breathing heavily. It's over... I... I made it... He had no strength left, so all he could do was rest. He had nothing to worry about anymore, so he had time.

***

"Man, this place is huge!" Isaac argued.

"How do we even know he's still here? Surely, he's long gone by now." Mandy said as the group continued searching the aisle. "He has to be here still. I know it." Abby said.

"What if he already left? If he was smart, he would've bailed while we were still recovering." Oscar pointed out.

"He has a point. Come on Abby, he's probably not even here. We should probably check somewhere else." Brooke pleaded.

"But, where else would he be?! This town is huge?! Where would we even start?!" Abby argued.

"Hey, we're gonna do this, but we need to be calm about it. Got that?" Isaac reassured. Abby reluctantly nodded. "Yeah... you're right. Where do we start?"

Before Isaac said anything else, Oswald interrupted them. "What is that stuff?! It smells awful!" Oswald exclaimed, pinching his nose. The group looked at him in confusion. "What stuff?" Raj asked. Oswald pointed up ahead of them.

Ahead of them was a large, black stain in the middle of the aisle. None of them had even noticed it because they were so swept up in their search. Now that they did, they could all agree that the smell was certainly revolting. They cautiously approached the stain and surrounded it, none of them wanting to risk touching it.

"This can't be from him. The stain's too dry." Brooke said.

"Well, then how long has it been here?" Dylan asked.

"These people really need to fire whatever janitor is working here if they missed a stain like this." Oscar said. "Whatever. Weird stain or not, we should keep moving." Mandy said. They all went to turn around and head towards the exit, only to see Funtime Freddy blocking their path.

"You know, you kids sure are on another level of stupid if you actually followed me!" He laughed as they gasped and backed away, holding out their weapons in front of them. "That's alright, though. That only means I'll have such a fun time tearing you apart!" Funtime Freddy cackled as the kids started to fire their guns at him before he could charge him.

The bullets managed to stagger him, but he soon regained his balance and rammed right into Dylan who was next to one of the shelves. He was knocked into it which caused the shelf to slowly fall over and knock into the others right next to it. Brooke stood in front of Dylan and shot her last round at Funtime Freddy. After realizing she was all out, she threw her gun at Funtime Freddy's face and helped Dylan get back on his feet.

"You okay?" She asked. "Yeah." Dylan said with a grunt of pain. "I'll live."

"Oh, I don't think so!" Funtime Freddy cheered in a singsong voice. He cried out as Oswald landed a lucky shot on his ankle which tore his foot off, causing him to fall to the floor. "Now's our chance! Get him!" Raj shouted.

They all rushed to hack into him with their weapons. They were only able to land a few hits on him before he reared up and knocked them off of him with a roar. Oswald hit his head on the next shelf and didn't get up after that.

"Oswald!" Brooke screamed. Isaac rushed over to his side, checking his side.

"Shit! He's bleeding!" Isaac said, worried. Mandy saw Funtime Freddy starting to stand on one foot and tried fending him off, but only received a slap to her face from his left hand, causing her to flip and fall to the ground. That hit also dislocated her jaw. Isaac cried out and rushed at him. "You shithead!" Unfortunately, Isaac could only get so far before getting grabbed by Funtime Freddy and held up in the air by the neck.

The others watched as Isaac's face started turning purple from how hard his throat was getting squeezed. Oscar and Raj were first to rush to his aid, but Funtime Freddy used Isaac's body to slam into Oscar and knock him down. Funtime Freddy had good balance because he was a robot, so tripping him would be tricky. He started hopping over to Oscar who tried crawling away.

"I'll bust your head open like a watermelon!" Funtime Freddy said with a cackle. Raj saw the perfect chance to hit him since he was momentarily distracted. Raj bent down and swung his machete into his remaining foot. It took a few hacks before it was fully dismembered.

Funtime Freddy fell to the ground and dropped Isaac in the process. "Now!" Raj shouted to the others who could still fight. The remaining teens immediately rushed over and started swinging their weapons into him. Brooke wanted to make sure he couldn't fight back, so she used Isaac's axe to chop off his left arm. Dylan kept swinging his axe down onto his chest with an anger he didn't know he had. This abomination nearly took the lives of his friends and he wasn't letting him get away with that, not by a long shot.

Black liquid began spraying out of Funtime Freddy and onto the teens. They wondered if this was the alternative to blood for robots. It smelled pungent, so they didn't know why it would be. Wait... a foul smell. Dylan thought.

He was quickly taken out of his thoughts by Abby taking an axe and swinging it down onto Funtime Freddy's neck, but she didn't cut all the way through since she wasn't that strong. Funtime Freddy screamed in rage and thrashed about as he was getting torn apart, but he could do nothing to defend himself. Dylan still wasn't willing to take that chance and rushed over to help Abby decapitate him.

Taking turns, they both swung their axes into his neck, and surely enough, with one final swing from Dylan, the machine's head finally separated from its body. They all watched as its head rolled away from the main body. He black fluid poured out in streams now. They all gagged at the smell and covered their noses. They all rushed over to Oswald and Mandy to check on them. Mandy was crying in pain and hyperventilating as she felt her jaw. Isaac sat down in front of her and put his hands on her shoulders, trying to calm her down.

"It's okay! It's okay! I'm here, Mandy! Just look at me, alright? Just look at me." Isaac said in a reassuring voice. Mandy nodded rapidly with tearful eyes. She couldn't speak, so she couldn't give him a verbal response.

"Okay... I'm gonna try and put your jaw back into place... alright?" Isaac said, looking to see if Mandy will agree to that. With a hesitant nod from Mandy, he cupped her face in his hands.

"Alright... on three... one, two, three!" Isaac exclaimed as he successfully shoved her jaw back into place. With a cry of pain, she put her hands on her jaw.

"There... better, right? Just... try not to talk for a while, alright?" Isaac instructed. Mandy stayed silent and nodded. Just moving her jaw still hurt her.

"Oswald!" Dylan exclaimed, hoping to wake him up. Brooke felt his pulse. She breathed a sigh of relief. "He's alive." She stated. They heard him groan slightly and watched him slowly begin to open his eyes.

"Uhh... guys... what... huh?" Oswald slurred, being barely conscious enough to form full sentences. Brooke hugged him tightly and he groaned in surprise.

"I'm so glad you're alright! I'm so happy!" She sobbed. Because of her wailing, Oswald started to get a little more conscious and smiled as he hugged her back, looking up at the others who were relieved to see him alright.

"Did we do it? Or, are we dead?" Oswald asked. "No... we did it. We killed that son of a bitch!" Oscar cheered. His celebrating made them all inclined to join in as they also began to celebrate the fact that they actually won. They took on a seven-foot death bear made of metal and they lived. They actually lived! They all enveloped each other in a group hug as they sobbed tears of joy and relief. They were all alive. They were really badly hurt and they should probably start going to the hospital, but they were alive and safe for now.

While they cheered, Abby walked over to Funtime Freddy's body as it slowly started to stop moving as all the fluid leaked out of him. So that stuff helped him move? Or... is it his life force? Abby pondered to herself. She was interrupted by Funtime Freddy's disembodied head shouting.

"It's not fair! It's not fair! It's not fair! I was supposed to win! Me! Not a bunch of brats!" He yelled. Abby walked over to his head, seeing as there was no danger in approaching him.

"You! If I had just tried a little harder, maybe I could've won! I'm supposed to be the apex predator! Me! I kill kids, not the other way around!" Funtime Freddy exclaimed, angrily.

"You had it coming! Besides, we had guns and you didn't." Abby argued.

"Aha! That's it! You cheated! That's not fair! This isn't how you play the game!" He whined. Abby was already getting tired of this bear's whining. Was he really just a whiny child all along? He was certainly acting like one. She figured she couldn't just let him ramble on like that and somehow find a way to escape, so she slowly raised the axe she was still holding over her head.

"Yeah? Well... game over!" Abby said as she swung the axe down onto his head as hard as she could. She watched his eye flicker, its light slowly dimming.

"It's... n-n-not fair... I... w-w-was j-j-ju-u-ust... made this-s-s... way..." Those were the last words he spoke before the fluid in his head finally stopped leaking out and his eye turned off. He was made this way... Abby thought. She couldn't help but feel... actually kind of bad for him. This robot was programmed to kill people, it was just in his nature to act the way he did. He should've been a real animatronic and entertain for children, not be bastardized into such an abomination that could use its appearance to its advantage. Still, it hurt her friends and she was glad it's finally dead.

"We... still have to find Millie." Oswald said.

"Are you sure? We were so badly hurt by that thing. Shouldn't we go to the hospital?" Brooke asked.

"The fight's not over. There's still Eleanor we need to kill." Isaac said in a raspy voice.

"Well, some of us might be hurt too badly to fight anymore. The injured would only get in the way." Dylan argued.

"We're all injured, Dylan. It doesn't matter, because Millie is still out there somewhere, and she needs our help!" Oscar said.

Mandy shook her head, but refrained from talking.

"She's right. We were beaten up, but she probably has it worse. We can't just leave her." Abby said, walking towards the group.

They all looked at each other with uncertainty. Could they keep fighting if they needed to? They were all certain that they broke something, so would they be ready to take on Eleanor and save Millie if they needed to do so? Their spirits were somewhat willing, but their bodies were bruised and broken.

"Come on! She would do the same for all of us!" Raj said, hoping to inspire some motivation into them. "If we work together like we just did back there, we could stand a chance!"

"Against a demon?" Brooke asked.

"This thing is not a demon... it's just a bitch that needs to die... tonight. We can kill her. We have to help Millie just like we helped each other. If we stay strong... we can stand a chance. That's all we need! Just a chance! Who are we if we don't take a chance?!" Abby said.

They all looked awestruck, once again surprised by her courage. For such a timid girl, she certainly knew how to give a speech in their opinion. Did that help them feel more brave at all? Hell no, but she was right; they had to take a chance for their friend. One by one, they all stood up, looking at their own weapons. They used up most of their ammo, but they still had melee weapons for the most part. They were reluctant, but still willing to help Millie.

"Where the hell do we start?" Dylan asked.

"That's... a good question." Isaac said.

Abby thought to herself. Where else could they search? They didn't know many locations to find Millie at, but she tried brainstorming anyway. Wait... didn't Millie mention a factory the Stitchwraith was hiding in?

"That's it!" She suddenly exclaimed, making everyone else jump. "What the fuck?!" Oscar exclaimed, looking like she just gave him a heart attack.

"Millie mentioned that the Stitchwraith's hideout was a factory just outside of town! The one next to the lake!" She explained. Everyone went wide eyed in realization. "That factory actually isn't that far from here!" Raj pointed out.

"Come on!" Dylan said and they all made their way to the exit and onto their bikes as they started riding away. As they got on, they heard sirens in the distance.

"Shit! Someone must've heard the gunshots!" Dylan said, panicked. "Well, let's not stick around!" Brooke said. They all agreed as they quickly start riding away from the distribution center and in the direction of the factory.

END OF CHAPTER XXVIII