One (A SPM AU BASED ON LN2)

The Factory: Part 3

Then, I slowly kneeled down and picked the small piece of wood in my other hand, taking a deep breath. "Okay... here goes nothing," I muttered, taking the wood and chucking it at the bulb, shattering it and causing it to go out, leaving us in sudden darkness. I still can remember the sound of the shattering glass. I remember jumping, and watching as all the light faded away besides what was coming from One's flashlight.

One kept his flashlight pointed at the mannequin, so it didn't move, thank goodness. I could see more clearly now how none of the parts making it up matched. It was like it was just thrown together. It had two right hands and one of its feet was on backward.

"Okay... good job," One breathed. "Now, I'm gonna turn the light off for one second. The mannequin is gonna move, then I'm gonna turn the light on, okay?" He asked.

I nodded, not realizing that he couldn't see me because I was in the dark. So I cleared my throat and let out a small, "Okay."

With that, he took an almost shaky breath, moved his finger to the button on the flashlight and clicked the off button, allowing the darkness to flow through.

I couldn't hear anything besides the sudden rush of footsteps. They were past and loud.

I winced and covered my ears, closing my eyes in fear when I heard One click the flashlight back on.

I slowly opened my eyes and looked over at One, who was shining the flashlight right at the now moved mannequin, which was just inches from him. The mannequin towered over him, its hands almost grabbing ahold of him, but not quite.

"ONE!" I shouted when he carefully turned his head to look at me.

"It's okay," He assured me, carefully moving away, being sure to keep the flashlight trained onto the mannequin. One carefully walked backward, being extra cautious.

I sincerely hoped that the batteries on that light wouldn't go out any time soon.

"How are you so calm?! It almost got you!!" I cried.

"But it didn't," One breathed, stepping backward through the doorway, using both hands to hold the flashlight steady.

I quickly rushed over to him, getting behind him so he would be in between me and the mannequin. I know that sounds selfish, but it was so I wouldn't block the light. I wasn't trying to sacrifice him to the monstrous creation, I promise.

One carefully stepped back into the next room, then jerked his head to the side, gesturing for me to shut the door. So, I quickly ran up, shutting the door, blocking the mannequin, and separating us from it.

"See? That wasn't so bad!" One chimed, relaxing slightly, but still holding his flashlight up.

I wasn't having such a positive outlook on this all. I was horrified. But I didn't want to show that, so I just shakily nodded, following behind him as he walked through the pitch-black hallways.

We continued walking down the hallways when I suddenly heard some movement from the left of me, causing me to jump and grab onto One's arm. He immediately pointed his flashlight in the direction the sound came from, spotting another mannequin and making it freeze.

"Oh Grambi, we're gonna die. We're gonna die! We're so dead," I cried, squeezing my eyes shut and burying my face in his arm, trembling. I didn't care that I was acting childish. I was mortified. "We're screwed. We're gonna die, and no one's gonna find our bodies. I'll see you in the Overthere-"

"Six, we're not gonna die," One whispered. "Just stay calm."

"Stay calm?!" I squeaked.

"Yes. Stay calm." One breathed when there was suddenly movement on the other side of the room. One quickly turned around, pointing the flashlight at ANOTHER mannequin, causing it to freeze, but giving the other one the power to move once again.

I immediately panicked and pulled out the lighter One gave me, flicking it on and holding it out in front of me, squeezing my eyes shut and fear and making myself smaller.

"We're gonna die, we're gonna die, we're gonna die, we're gonna die," I whispered quickly when I slowly blinked and looked up, seeing the mannequin frozen inches from my face. One stood with his back to me, pointing his flashlight in the opposite direction. I could feel that he was slightly nervous through his breathing, but he didn't verbally show any signs of fear.

"............ Okay, here's what we're going to do," One eventually said, not moving. "We're going to move through this section back to back... that way nothing can attack either of us from behind. Okay?"

I shakily nodded, and with our backs together, we slowly proceeded through the dark hallway, into a large room, where I kid you not, there were dozens, maybe even hundreds of mannequins.

"Oh dear Grambi..." I gulped, shaking slightly as the flame from my lighter danced and burned. I could feel the heat emitting from it, and I could hear the sounds of the mannequins robotically walking and moving in the dark where we couldn't see. My eyes continued nervously darting around the room as I felt my heart pound loudly in my chest.

We quickly moved, One with his flashlight and me with my lighter, making sure nothing caught or grabbed us. The mannequins' hands weren't even hand-like. They were metal and sharp. They could probably cut and stab us easily.

We quickly moved out of that room and into another hallway. Only in this one, thankfully, all the mannequins were locked up in what looked to be some kind of holding cells that lined the hallway. "These must have been the failed creations," One noted, clicking off his flashlight. It was still dark, but there was a skylight nearby so there was just enough moonlight to see, and he didn't want his battery to run out.

I clicked off my lighter as well and followed him down the much narrower, quieter hallway.

"This looks pretty safe-" I started, when an arm suddenly reached out from between the metal bars, reaching for and nearly grabbing ahold of me.

One didn't even take the time to turn on his flashlight. He just grabbed my wrist and sprinted while suddenly more and more arms started reaching through the bars and trying to get us, trying to break the cell doors open. It was loud. Their hands made noises like metal grinding as they moved.

That's when a mannequin finally broke a cell down and started crawling after us. Luckily, One pulled out his flashlight and turned it on, pointing it back at the one mannequin and running backward. "Keep going, I'm right behind you!" He called as more doors broke down causing more mannequins to crawl after us from all angles.

Only... they weren't crawling after us.

They were crawling after him.

They seemed to completely ignore me and all chase after him. He quickly kept turning around himself, switching which thing he was pointing the flashlight at while I ran ahead, finding a vent and opening it, hopping inside and waving him over.

He saw me and quickly ran, still turning around himself to try to shine light on all the mannequins he could until he finally made it to safety, shutting the vent tightly and regaining his breath.

"W-Why are those things after you?!" I asked, my voice quaking.

One paused, catching his breath as well while he replied. "T-The doctor must have programmed them to get intruders."

"Okay..." I breathed, frowning slightly. "I guess that makes sense..."

We both waited, when he cleared his throat, pointing forward. I realized then that he was waiting for me to lead the way. So, I did, following the vents into another room.

And thank goodness, there was the second key, situated on another desk in a safe room with no fake people to chase after us. One quickly jumped up and grabbed the key, then looked around himself.

I knew what he was thinking. He didn't want to go back the way we came. But... there didn't seem to be another option.

"Well... get your lighter ready," He whispered.