The Proxies (ENG)

CHAPTER 3: A Betrayal

It was a quiet morning, the night beginning to be absorbed by the brightness of the day. Jeff lay on his bed, sleeping as usual. Another night awake watching police dramas had left the boy exhausted. Several flashing images flashed through Jeff's mind in his dream, things that seemed to make no sense, he saw death and destruction in every direction, the world perishing, tsunamis crashing into cities with the fury of the gods, earthquakes that would crack the depths of hell, tornadoes destroying entire towns. Jeff saw the bodies of all the people he loved, his mother, his brother, his friends, his dog... their bodies lay lifeless on the pavement.

Jeff woke up, scared and shaken. As he tried to calm down, he realized the time, he was getting late, it seemed strange to him that his mother hadn't woken him up. The boy got dressed and went downstairs to find that his mother was not home.

Jessica was in her police car like every day, along with her partner, Ethan. They had been assigned to search for the young criminals who had escaped a few days ago, an anonymous call giving them a tip that the boys should be in the abandoned cabin inside the Mors Hill State Forest. The two policemen began to drive towards the scene.

"That boy, Randy. Did you see his face?" Jessica asked.

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"That burn scar...he didn't have it the night we arrested him."

"And how did it happen?"

"I don't know... I just don't want to imagine the hell that boy suffered in the hospital..."

"He's a murderer, Jess."

"I know. But he's also a child. And he's clearly mentally ill. He needs help."

Ethan didn't say a word, pondering what his partner said.

The cops arrived at the entrance to the forest a few minutes later, the tall pines blocking out the sunlight into the darkness of the forest, a darkness that seemed to have a life of its own. The companions entered the forest in search of the cabin.

"Ugh... I hate this forest, it gives me chills every time I walk in here." Jessica said.

"Yeah, I feel like at any moment Bigfoot'll come out of some corner and feed his young to me."

"Ethan!"

The policemen walked for a long time, until they realized that they were not getting anywhere.

"Hey, have you seen any signs lately? I think we got lost..." Ethan said.

"No... but, the cabin is supposed to be around here..."

Jessica looked at the map on her phone, the device had stopped showing their location, they were lost.

"Fuck..."

The police turned in all directions looking for any sign indicating where they were, but only found trees.

The cops continued walking bewildered, not knowing what to do. After a while, the partners met at the entrance again, not knowing how they had gotten there.

"Hey... did we turn around at some point...?" Said the albino boy.

"No... we were always walking in one direction..."

"What the hell...?"

In the school cafeteria, Jeff ran into his friends, the boys looking tired, just like him.

"Man... I had a horrible nightmare..." Jeff said.

"Yeah, so did we" Ben answered.

"Did all three of you have the same nightmare?" Toby asked.