american horror story

A yellow Chevrolet Camaro sped down a straight highway, with nothing but desert on either side – a classic American West scene. 

Although the scenery was rather dull, the occupants of the car were in high spirits. 

Roy was driving, Heather sat in the passenger seat, and Penny was in the back, hugging him. 

Heather had been busy with the Sawyer family business lately, so she hadn't been able to spend much time with Roy. 

Fortunately, with Penny's help, things had been sorted out, and the two of them were finally free. 

It just so happened that Roy had to go to Los Angeles, so he brought both girls along for company on the long drive. 

After all, the distance from Waterfall Town to Los Angeles was nearly 2000 kilometers, and even flying would take a considerable amount of time, let alone Roy's preference for road trips. 

This time, Roy's journey would start from Waterfall Town, pass through New Mexico and Arizona, and finally reach Los Angeles in southwestern California. 

With two beautiful women by his side, even the most boring journey would become interesting. 

They set off early in the morning and, after speeding along nearly empty highways for over ten hours, Roy and the girls successfully passed through New Mexico and entered Arizona. 

It was around this point that Penny's mood suddenly started to dip, which surprised Heather. 

Heather and Penny were now comrades-in-arms, frequently united against Roy's "tyranny," and their bond was quite strong. So, she asked Penny what was wrong. 

"Penny, what's the matter?" 

Penny replied to Heather with a touch of listlessness. 

"My hometown is around here." 

Roy hadn't realized Penny was from Arizona; he had always assumed she was from New Mexico. 

"Penny, do you want to go back and see your hometown?" 

Roy had seen signs indicating the direction of a nearby town and, since it was already approaching evening, thought it might be a good idea to rest there for the night. 

Hearing this, Penny almost jumped. 

"No! Roy, drive away from this town quickly, the further the better!" 

Roy frowned slightly. Penny's reaction seemed off. Could there be something wrong with this town? 

Just as he was about to ask more, the car suddenly shook violently a few times and then started to skid rapidly. 

Fortunately, because they were approaching the town, Roy had slowed down. If this had happened on the interstate, the Chevrolet Camaro would have definitely spun out of control. 

"Fuck!" 

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After Roy brought the car to a stop, he quickly got out to inspect it and found that all four tires were flat. 

Heather and Penny were quite startled by this and asked Roy, 

"Roy, what happened?" 

"Something's wrong, all four tires are flat!" 

A flat tire or two might be possible, but all four at once definitely indicated a problem. 

Roy walked back a few steps and then saw a row of spike strips lying on the road – the kind police use to stop fleeing vehicles, easily puncturing car tires. 

This made Roy very curious. Were the police here catching a fugitive? 

He hadn't seen any police around! 

At this moment, Heather and Penny also got out of the car. 

"Are you two okay?" 

Heather answered Roy, 

"Yes, were the tires punctured by these things?" 

"Yes." 

Just as he finished speaking, an emergency service vehicle drove over from the direction of the town and stopped beside the three of them. 

The emergency service vehicle was driven by a friendly-looking older man. 

"Hey there! Looks like you've run into some trouble. I happen to run a repair shop in town. Need any help?" 

This guy's timing was too perfect. 

It reminded Roy of those early scams where people would deliberately cause trouble to make money. 

Roy noticed Penny beside him shrinking and hiding behind him. It seemed she knew this man, but he couldn't figure out why Penny was acting this way. 

He quietly squeezed Penny's hand to reassure her, then turned to the old man with a bright smile. 

"God bless you, that's fantastic!" 

After that, Roy got into the passenger seat of the emergency service vehicle, while Heather and Penny stayed in the Chevrolet Camaro, which was towed behind. 

"Young man, what's your name?" 

"You can just call me Roy." 

"Oh, Roy, is it? My name is Wilson. That spike strip was probably just a prank by some kids in town; they're real mischievous." 

Wilson offered a forced explanation, and Roy simply smiled without saying anything. 

Wilson towed the car to the only repair shop in town. After checking the tires, Wilson said that all four needed to be replaced. 

"One thousand dollars." 

"What? Did I hear that right?" 

Roy looked at the repair shop owner Wilson in surprise. That price was enough to replace the tires on a large truck. 

"That's the price here!" 

Wilson looked at Roy with a smile that increasingly resembled that of a highway robbery con artist. Roy hadn't expected to see this kind of thing in America. 

Roy's face tightened. He really wanted to punch Wilson, but he didn't know how to fix cars, and knocking the guy out would only make things more complicated. 

"Fine, one thousand it is. But you better hurry up!" 

As he spoke, Roy reached for his wallet, intending to pay with a credit card. 

"Sorry, we only accept cash here." 

Roy frowned slightly. He only had a few hundred dollars in cash in his wallet; the rest of his money was in his inventory. 

That particular sum was Wade's bonus, and he couldn't deposit it in a bank or make large purchases with it, or the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) might come knocking. 

Even the Godfather couldn't escape the IRS, so Roy wasn't planning on using that money for now. 

"Where's the ATM?" 

"Sorry, the ATM in town just happens to be out of order." 

Roy gave Wilson a fierce look, and the killing intent he exuded made the other man take a step back. 

"What do you mean? Are you kidding me?" 

Wilson quickly explained, "Of course not! Young man, don't be angry! If you're short on cash, I have an idea that might help you!" 

At this point, Roy realized that what Wilson was about to say was his real purpose. 

Roy crossed his arms, amused and wanting to see what the man would come up with. 

"Okay, go ahead." 

"There's a Willie's Wonderland restaurant in town that's about to reopen, but the owner is short-staffed. If you can help him clean the place up tonight, he'll pay you a thousand dollars!" 

Earning a thousand dollars for a night of cleaning was a job that would have people in Los Angeles fighting over it. It seemed too good to be true for a remote town in Arizona. 

The trap was obvious, but Roy was skilled and bold. He decided to step right into it, wanting to see what the repair shop owner was playing at. 

"Alright, I'll take the job!" 

Just then, Penny suddenly grabbed Roy's hand and pointed to a missing person poster on the wall. 

Roy gently stroked Penny's hand, trying to soothe her anxious feelings. 

"It'll be alright." 

The repair shop owner, afraid that Roy might refuse, immediately made a phone call to the owner of the children's restaurant, Terry. 

Terry was a portly old man in a white suit and a cowboy hat, looking about the same age as Wilson. 

This fellow drove Roy and the girls to the outside of Willie's Wonderland. 

"Here it is. All you need to do is clean it up inside." 

Roy looked at the so-called Willie's Wonderland. A huge cartoon sign clearly indicated it was a children's restaurant with amusement park rides, but all the windows were boarded up, and the front door was secured with a thick iron chain. 

This hardly looked like a restaurant about to open. 

Roy narrowed his eyes at Terry. 

"We've been driving all day and haven't eaten anything. Could we at least fill our stomachs first?" 

"Don't worry, there's food and drinks inside the restaurant, even beer. You can eat while you work." 

The restaurant owner, Terry, was eager to get Roy and the girls inside, which only made things seem more suspicious. 

However, Roy wasn't concerned about that. He was more worried about Penny and Heather's feelings. 

"Heather, Penny, what do you say?" 

Ever since experiencing the events of "The Ring" and "The Grudge," Heather's innate love for excitement seemed to have awakened, or perhaps it was the influence of the Sawyer family bloodline. In any case, she also sensed that there was something wrong with the restaurant owner Terry, but with Roy by her side, she wasn't afraid of anything. 

"I'm fine!" 

The only one with doubts was Penny. 

Ever since they got close to this town, Penny had been preoccupied. Roy took her hand and quietly asked her near the stage. 

At this moment, Terry also noticed Penny and felt that she looked strangely familiar, as if he had seen her somewhere before. 

"Penny, are you afraid of something?" 

After a moment of silence, Penny whispered to Roy, 

"Roy, there are devils living in this restaurant. When I was little, I saw a friend of mine get killed by a devil in there!" 

So that was the reason. Sometimes childhood trauma can indeed stay with a person for life. 

Just like Needy, who had encountered Pennywise as a child and had been afraid of clowns ever since, until the recent "It" incident, when she saw Roy personally kill Pennywise, her fear finally disappeared completely. 

Penny's situation seemed similar. Because she had witnessed her friend's death as a child, she had developed a fear of this restaurant. 

But something still didn't feel right. Why was Penny also resistant to her hometown? 

Could there be another problem? 

"Penny, are you hiding something else from me?" 

Under Roy's gaze, Penny nodded. She was about to answer, but Roy stopped her. 

Because Roy noticed that Terry was already getting a little impatient. 

"Penny, we can talk about this later. Tell me, do you want to personally avenge your childhood friend?" 

This made Penny pause for a moment, but Penny, who had dared to snatch the boss's woman in the strip club, actually had a rather bold personality. It was just that in front of Roy, she was always gentle and soft-spoken. 

So, Penny nodded her head firmly. 

"Good, you just need to trust me. Leave the rest to me!" 

With that, Roy turned and walked up to Terry. 

"Have you two finished discussing? Time is running out!" 

This guy really wanted to get Roy and the girls into the restaurant as soon as possible. 

"Mr. Terry, it's like this: my girlfriend is quite particular about food, and she's a little worried that the food in the restaurant might not satisfy her." 

Roy's words made Terry breathe a slight sigh of relief. 

"That's easy to solve. If you're not satisfied, you can come find me tomorrow! I can pay you extra!" 

Terry generously offered an empty promise. He clearly didn't think Roy and the girls would be able to get out of the restaurant tomorrow. 

"You said it! Don't go back on your word tomorrow!" 

"How could I? My word is my bond! Now, can you start working?" 

Roy nodded. 

Terry unlocked the large padlock on the door of Willie's Wonderland and led the three of them inside. 

"The electricity in the restaurant is on, all the facilities are usable, and there are work clothes you can wear, so you don't have to worry about getting your clothes dirty. Well then, I'll leave it to you." 

Terry couldn't wait to leave the restaurant and closed the door behind him. From the sound, it seemed he had relocked the door with the chain, not even trying to be discreet about it. 

Looking at the messy restaurant and the humanoid puppets on the huge stage across the room, Roy suddenly had a strong sense of déjà vu. 

Could this damn place also be a scene from some movie? 

But as Roy looked around, this place seemed more like a horror game he had played in his previous life, called "Five Nights at Freddy's," which told the story of humanoid puppets in a pizza shop and the security guard. 

Yeah, that game was quite popular in Europe and America, and there were even fan-made works in the 3D section, making one marvel at the special tastes of foreigners. 

Ruining Disney and Pixar wasn't enough for Westerners; now they were even going after humanoid puppets. 

Terrifying! 

However, the humanoid puppets in this restaurant were quite different from those in "Five Nights at Freddy's." There were many more types, and they were even more bizarrely shaped. 

"Heather, Penny, let's go to the kitchen first to eat and chat about the restaurant." 

The two girls nodded and followed Roy to the back kitchen of the restaurant. 

Terry was right; the restaurant was indeed fully equipped and had plenty of food. 

However, Roy and the girls didn't touch the sausages or meat patties in the restaurant. Who knew where that red meat came from? 

On the other hand, white meats like chicken breasts, chicken wings, and chicken legs were nothing to worry about. 

People can't just grow chicken wings and legs, right? 

Unless you're a pigeon or a xiao hei zi (a derogatory term in Chinese internet slang). 

Penny took charge of the cooking. Having lived on her own for longer, her culinary skills were much better than Heather's. 

Using the equipment in the restaurant's kitchen, Penny quickly prepared some pan-fried chicken breasts, fried chicken legs, and some vegetable and fruit salad. 

This was a relatively lavish meal for a long road trip. 

If you haven't planned your route well on a road trip, or if your vehicle breaks down, you'll probably have to rely on dry rations. 

Roy also unceremoniously took out a dozen cans of beer from the refrigerator, ready to have a good time with Heather and Penny. 

Good food and beer always make people happy. It was in this atmosphere that Penny began to tell her story and the story of this restaurant. 

"More than a decade ago, this restaurant was already here. The owner at the time was called Willie, and he seemed like a kind middle-aged man. No one expected that he was actually a perverted serial killer who particularly liked to kill children. The purpose of opening this children's restaurant was to better find his prey." 

Penny recounted the story slowly, her eyes becoming deep and distant, clearly lost in her memories. 

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