Alarms blared through Playcare. The red emergency lights painted the halls in a sickly glow, flashing against the faces of terrified children and frantic employees as they rushed toward the evacuation tunnels.

"Keep moving!" a Playtime Co. staff member shouted, guiding a group of children through the underground corridors. "We're almost there! Just a little farther-"

The ground trembled beneath their feet. A deep, rumbling groan echoed through the factory, as if the walls themselves were crying out.

Something was wrong.

Leith Pierre wiped the sweat from his forehead as he sprinted down the corridor, his breaths ragged. Behind him, Eddie Ritterman kept pace, clutching a small case tight against his chest-the one containing the stolen copy of Yazmina's refined vial.

They had what they came for. Now they just needed to get the hell out.

"Are the choppers prepped?" Pierre barked into his radio.

Static. Then-

"Y-Yes, sir! The rooftop port is clear, but you need to hurry-"

A distant explosion rocked the tunnels, cutting the voice off. Screams followed. The power flickered.

And then, it happened.

A violent, deafening BOOM erupted from deep within Playcare. Fire and metal burst outward like a monstrous flower blooming in reverse, swallowing the tunnels in a blinding shockwave.

The walls collapsed.

The ceiling caved in.

Screams turned into choked cries, then silence.

Pierre, Ritterman, and Stella Greyber barely made it out in time. The explosion tore through the underground escape route, killing everyone inside-children, employees, every single soul who thought they had a chance.

The moment they reached the main factory floor, the realization hit them.

They were too late.

The children were gone.

All of them.

For a split second, there was nothing but ringing in their ears. Smoke and dust filled the air, swirling in the dim, flickering light. The scent of burnt plastic, flesh, and melted metal choked the atmosphere.

Stella's breath came in short gasps. Her face was pale, her hands trembling. "No... No, no, no... The children-"

"We don't have time for this," Pierre snapped, grabbing her wrist and yanking her forward. "Move."

Ritterman adjusted his grip on the case, his knuckles white. He didn't say a word-just kept his eyes locked ahead.

They had to get to the rooftop.

---

The cable car rumbled forward, its mechanical hum vibrating through the cold metal floor. Yazmina slumped against the wall, her breaths shallow, her fingers trembling against the deep wound in her side.

She was losing too much blood.

But that wasn't the worst of it.

A new sensation had begun to take root beneath her skin-an eerie, crawling warmth that coiled around her veins like living tendrils. Her vision swam, twisting at the edges. The emergency lights overhead flickered in slow, unnatural pulses.

The scorpion in her pocket twitched.

Yazmina clenched her jaw, forcing her head back against the wall. Stay in control. Whatever was happening, whatever was growing inside her-she couldn't afford to lose herself now.

She cracked open an eye, staring at the console across the small cabin. The controls flickered, displaying her destination:

PLAYCARE.

The name sent a chill down her spine.

A faint clink echoed through the cabin.

Yazmina's breath hitched.

Slowly, she turned her head toward the sound.

At the far end of the cable car, a vent cover lay slightly ajar. The darkness beyond it yawned wide and endless.

Something had moved.

Her fingers twitched toward her scissors.

For a long moment, silence.

Then-

A whisper.

Not a voice, not quite. More like a breath against her mind. A faint, distant echo curling around the static already buzzing in her skull.

"Yazmina..."

Her blood turned to ice.

She pushed herself upright, ignoring the searing pain in her side. The air in the cabin felt heavier now, charged with something unseen.

Then-

The vent cover rattled.

A pair of thin, spindly fingers curled around the edge.

Yazmina's breath caught in her throat.

Yazmina's grip tightened around her scissors as the vent cover gave another slow, deliberate rattle.

The fingers-thin, bony, their skin stretched too tight over the joints-twitched against the metal. Then, with an unsettling slowness, they curled inward, retreating into the shadows.

Silence.

Whatever was in there, it was waiting.

A deep, pulsing static buzzed in her skull, feeding an instinct she didn't recognize. A part of her wanted to strike first, to lunge forward and drive her scissors into that vent-to kill before it could move.

Her fingers twitched. Her pulse roared.

No.

She squeezed her eyes shut, pressing her free hand against her temple. Not you. Not yet.

The cable car lurched.

Yazmina snapped back to reality just as the cabin tilted slightly, the machinery beneath her groaning as they neared Playcare. A mechanical voice crackled through the speakers:

"Approaching final destination. Please prepare for arrival."

Her gaze flicked back to the vent.

It was closed again.

Had it ever been open?

Yazmina swallowed hard, shaking off the lingering haze in her mind. Focus. Whether it had been real or a hallucination, it didn't matter now. She needed to be ready.

---

They sprinted through the ruined corridors, past abandoned machinery and overturned storage crates.

Then-

A low, guttural growl.

A shadow moved from the end of the hall.

Four long, limb-like arms uncurled from the darkness, sharp talons scraping against the metal floor.

A massive, towering figure emerged, its blue fur matted with something dark, its wide, soulless black eyes locked onto them.

Huggy Wuggy.

His grin, his impossible, nightmarish grin, stretched far too wide.

Pierre's blood ran cold.

Then Huggy charged.

A blur of blue fur and teeth, the force of his lunge shaking the walls.

"GO!" Pierre shoved Stella ahead.

The trio bolted.

Huggy's massive frame tore through the hallway, his clawed fingers raking against the walls as he closed the distance fast.

They reached the emergency stairwell, scrambling upward two steps at a time.

They could hear Huggy below, climbing unnaturally fast-his arms stretching, pulling him upward in sharp, jerking motions.

The rooftop exit was just ahead.

They burst through the door, the cold night air hitting them like a slap. The helicopter was already prepped, the blades whirring violently against the wind.

Relief was seconds away.

Then-

A blur of blue.

Huggy lunged.

Stella was too slow.

His massive hand snatched her ankle before she could leap onto the landing pad.

She screamed, kicking, clawing at the ground.

"STELLA!"

Pierre reached for her-but in that split second, he hesitated.

His calculating mind made a decision.

He let go.

Stella's eyes widened in pure, raw betrayal.

"PIERRE, YOU-"

Huggy's grip tightened-then yanked her back.

She hit the ground hard, scrambling, trying to crawl away, but Huggy loomed over her, his massive arms stretching wide.

She barely had time to scream before his teeth tore into her.

A sickening crunch.

A wet, gurgling snap.

Blood splattered across the rooftop.

Then silence.

Pierre and Ritterman didn't look back.

They jumped into the helicopter, slamming the doors shut as the aircraft lifted off, rising above the factory.

Pierre exhaled, watching the factory shrink beneath them.

It was over.

They were the only ones left or so he thought.

He didn't know what happened to Yazmina yet.

But in Ritterman's hands?

That's the only thing that mattered.

The copy of Yazmina's vial.

A sample of the most valuable biological anomaly in existence.

As the helicopter vanished into the night, the factory stood below-silent, rotting, and filled with monsters.

Waiting.

Watching.