𝙃𝘼𝙉𝘿𝙋𝙍𝙄𝙉𝙏𝙎 𝘼𝙉𝘿 𝙎𝘾𝙍𝙄𝘽𝘽𝙇𝙀𝘿 𝙒𝙊𝙍𝘿𝙎; 𝙃𝙊𝙊𝘿𝙔

Chapter 21

I was lost. I knew I was. My legs burned; my chest felt like it was being stabbed. I was slowing down, and Masky was getting faster. Despair grew in my gut and tears pricked my eyes.

Flight obviously wasn't an option, so fighting it was. I stopped, and as soon as I did, I heard him stop after a couple of heavy steps. I could hear his breathing from behind his mask, and his hair was slowly becoming more plastered to his face.

His knuckles were white as his fingers tightly gripped the crowbar, and I knew my fingers were in a similar state on the knife's handle. He took a threatening step forward, but I didn't flinch back. "Challenging me?" His voice was sinister and derisive. It was harsh and had a bit of a vocal fry.

"It's not like I can outrun you." I pointed out, and he let out a breathy laugh.

Static entered my ears, and I flinched, noticing how Masky had stood up straight. Along with the static, I could make out heavy footsteps. Swear words fell from his mouth as he neared me, looking around. I stepped back, but tripped over a root, landing roughly on my butt and knocking the wind out of myself.

My hearing left me and all I could hear was static. My vision began to spot and grow black as my head started spinning, so I quickly closed the knife and stuffed it into my sleeve. Masky grabbed my shoulders and shook me before it seemed like he rolled his eyes.

He took something from one of his pockets and forced it into my mouth. I felt the outline of a pill and did the best I could to swallow it, coughing immediately after. Out of what seemed like nowhere, he threw me over his shoulder and began running.

My stomach had quickly begun to hurt. With every jarring step, I bounced up just a bit before slamming back down on him. It was tempting to complain, but I could barely stay conscious, much less talk.

The static in my head slowly increased, making my head feel like it was splitting apart. "Masky!" The unmistakable voice cut through for a second, and I attempted to look in the direction it came from.

"Hoody..." I whispered, head falling back against the tan coat covering his torso. His grip tightened and he continued running.

With the added weight, Masky was slower than before. "(Y/n)!" Hoody yelled as his long legs skillfully pushed him closer, faster than either of us had been running before. "Give her back."

Masky gripped me tighter and I flinched, looking up at him as the static in my head began to fade. Gunshots became audible, allowing concern to begin swirling around in my gut. "Hoody!" I remembered the knife up my sleeve and pulled it out, opening up the blade. Reaching up and back, I braced myself and I pushed the blade into his thigh. I tried to twist it, but failed to, and just pulled it out.

His leg gave out when he put pressure on it, and he let out a pained yell when we dropped. I fell on top of him before I crawled away toward Hoody. Blood sprayed out from the wound and I let the knife fall from my shaking fingers.

The hooded man picked me up and pointed in a random direction before holding up two fingers. Masky nodded and did his best to scramble up and continue running the way he was going.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The shots were getting closer to us and Hoody supported my weight with his left arm as I clung to his front. He took off, gun in one hand, me in the other. I watched behind him, seeing white and gray moving quickly.

"Fucking die already!" Skully's familiar, distorted voice was full of irritation and growing more and more breathless as they swung around the trees. Two twin pistols were in their hands and they were practically continuously taking shots.

No can do.

The voice, which seemed to actually be in my head, sounded like multiple screeching painfully. I gripped the back of Hoody's hoodie tightly as fear settled into my stomach. His chin pressed against my shoulder and I saw another person come running into my view.

Fucking Hunter. Again. "Hunter's back." Hoody let out a small groan as he ran.

"I shot that fucker once in the arm and booked it, but I guess that wasn't enough." I reached an arm down and took the gun from his hand, pointing the barrel at Hunter.

I aimed for his head and pulled the trigger, watching to see where the bullet would land. "Do you mind if I potentially drain your magazine?" He shook his head and I got right back to being ready to shoot.

The previous bullet had lodged itself into a tree just barely above his blond hair. I lowered my aim a good bit and pulled the trigger again.n. The bullet landed in his stomach and he doubled over, tripping over his own feet in the process. Removing my finger from the trigger, I lowered it and let out a shaky breath.

"I think I killed him."

"Where did it land?" His voice was quiet, soft, and comforting to me as I could feel the realization of what I'd done slowly settling in.

"Stomach." I stared at Hunter, and noticed how heavy the gun felt in my hand.

Hoody didn't reply, but pulled the pistol from my hand by the barrel, still running.