The Marionette of Madness

13

The next morning, Tim and Brian woke up in an abandoned building. In fact, the same abandoned house Tim had woken up in the day before. Their bodies were sore and they had cuts and scrapes all over, Brian was pretty sure his arm had been grazed by a bullet.

Tim looked around.
"Where's Toby?"

Brian looked around as well, but the young man was nowhere to be seen.
"What happened?"

The two thought hard, but the night's events were fuzzy, as always. Tim furrowed his brow.
"We were in the woods, and then, some guy showed up, and then... the thing came back and its all fuzzy."
At the mention of their faceless foe, Tim searched for his bag to get his pills, and was worried to find no bag at all.
"My pills are gone."

Brian helped Tim look around, but they came up empty handed.
"Well shit."

(Meanwhile, in an undisclosed location)

Toby woke up tied to a chair. Not the weirdest way he'd ever woken up, but still strange. Stranger still was the face inches from his own with bright green eyes.
"Wh-what? Where-?"

The other young man held a finger to his lips.
"Not the time. She isn't here right now, and I need to talk to you."

Toby nodded, not really sure where this was going.

The young man backed away and looked around, making sure they were still alone.
"Okay, based on the way your looking at me, I'm going to guess you don't remember last night?"

Toby nodded.

"Okay, weird, but okay. My name is..." he hesitated for a second, like he wasn't sure of the answer, "Mari, I'm Mari. Now listen, your boss stole from my boss, so my boss stole you. Understand?"

"Y-yes? If she's not here why cant you let me go?"

Mari sighed, he was shaking all over.
"It doesn't work like that. If I let you go and she finds out... I don't want her to take any more from me."
His eyes were sad and far away.
"No, I just wanted to warn you before she comes back."

Toby raised an eyebrow, though it occured to him that Mari couldn't see it with Toby's goggles on.
"Warn me about what?"

"She's going to make me hurt you, most likely. She doesn't do her own dirty work. But whatever happens, do not accept a deal from her. That's what lets her take you."

"What d-deal did you m-m-make?"

Mari didn't answer. Just sat on top of a nearby box and began fiddling with his gun. He polished it for a few minutes before speaking again.
"Does yours make deals?"

Toby shook his head.
"I don't know how he picks us."

Mari nodded.
"At least then it isn't your fault. I made this choice."

(Back to the other pair)

Tim's coughing was getting worse, he could barely stand now. Brian was trying to comfort him, but he couldn't do much.

It was cold, so Brian had decided to rummage through the house for a blanket. When he came back, he found Tim, slumped over the remains of the coffee table, scribbling on a random piece of paper with a market. Brian wasn't sure where he got either.
"Tim? What're you doing?"

But Tim didn't respond, his gaze was far away, unfocused. Brian tried to shake him to get his attention, but Tim continued scribbling.

After a minute, Tim dropped the marker and slumped over, the coughing subsiding. Brian rushed to his side.
"You okay? The hell was that?"

Tim shook his head.
"I don't know."
He picked up the piece of paper and stared at it.
"Thats never happened to me. Going off the video tapes, usually you write the notes."

"We'll talk about what you mean by that later. What does this mean?"

Tim tilted the paper in various directions.
"I think it's a map. I think the thing is trying to send us somewhere."

"Do you think thats where Toby is?"

"Maybe?"