Marble Hornets x Security Breach

Part 8

After hours of being stuck in there, just staring out the window and into the darkness, Hoodie started to get bored. This room was soundproof so he had heard nothing but the scuttling of that little creature, pacing back and forth for a while until it seemed to get tired and left him alone. The silence was almost worse. He hadn't heard any of the commotion that had went on outside of the small room, nor did it seem that anyone had even noticed his long absence. He hoped Tim would get worried and come looking for him. Jay or Alex even. Anything to get out of here. While he was alone in this small room Jay and Alex had found Tim and their argument had stopped all-together as Jay had gotten what he wanted in the end, they had found Tim. Tim however was not happy that Alex was still with Jay but he'd kept that thought, figuring it was better to avoid a fight. Now the three of them were walking down the hall together with Tim in the middle of the other two. They were looking for Hoodie, despite Alex's protests. Hoodie had taken to pacing the room again; he was extremely bored, and overall upset. He missed Tim now. He'd take all the sass and sarcasm in the world now just to hear someone's voice. The room that he was in was getting quite stuffy too,not to mention the fact that he'd been in here for god knows how long. His whole thing was his hoodie but he was getting hot and annoyed. He thought that no one would find him for a while longer so he just took the hoodie off leaving his face covered by the black bleached t-shirt with the little frown that he wore over his face, a black long sleeve, and his jeans. Little did he know the trio had been getting close to the room he was in. They had split up in the hallway now all looking in different rooms for the hooded man. It was his 'luck' that Alex would be the one to find him. It couldn't have been Jay, the one person who wouldn't have recognized him.

Alex walked right up to the glass, giving him a strange look.

"How'd you end up in there, weirdo?"

Hoodie pointed to the vent where the chattering creature had returned. It sat, staring at Alex. Alex made a face and looked back at Hoodie.

"Yeah we- me and Jay that is- found those things too. Looks like it has something personal against you. Did you kick it or something?"

Hoodie shrugged and pointed at the door. Alex walked over to it, trying the handle.

When it didn't open, he simply kicked it in. Hoodie stared, shocked at how easily the door popped open. It was an old door though, so he supposed it wasn't that impressive. He went to leave but Alex grabbed his shoulder, pushing him back.

"Take off the mask."

Hoodie shook his head. Alex glared at him, surprisingly angry. Alex had had a few suspicions already as to who the hooded man was and he wanted to know if he was right. He tried to grab at the mask but Hoodie backed away and shook his head again. Alex went towards him, one hand behind his back, hovering over the gun. He wasn't going to shoot him of course, but if he needed to threaten him he would. Hoodie looked up at the vent, considering going back, but the creature was still there. He backed into a corner and put his hands up in an attempt to stop Alex. Alex hadn't noticed the creature looking down at them from the vent. He was completely focused on Hoodie. He reached for the mask again, knocking Hoodie's hands out of the way.

He yanked it off. Hoodie tried to cover his face with his hands but Alex had already seen.

"BRIAN?!"

He figured it was him, it was the most likely option after all, but he hadn't really expected to be right. Hoodie/Brian sat down in the corner, hiding his face in the yellow hoodie. He looked as if he were pouting. Alex looked at the mask in his hand and back to him.

"Are you pouting?" Alex looked down at him with a scowl on his face.

There was no response. Alex nudged him with his foot, a little aggressively but not quite a full kick. Still nothing. He threw the mask at him.

"Have your stupid mask if you're gonna be that upset about it. I'm leaving now." He turned to go and as soon as he did, the creature jumped down from the vent onto his back.

He yelled and swung around, trying to hit it with the gun. Brian looked up, shocked. He ducked as the gun went off, barely missing his head. Alex flailed around some more before the creature finally got knocked off him. It hit the floor with a clink and laid there, still. Alex backed away from it, breathing heavily. Brian picked up his glasses, from the floor where they had fallen, and held them out to him. He snatched them back and stormed out the door. Brian followed, not wanting to be in the room anymore, but also to see what Alex was doing. He put back on the mask and hoodie as he walked, not risking anyone else seeing who he was.

"That whole costume thing is useless now. You do know I'm gonna tell the others, right?"

Hoodie just looked at him, silent.

"You don't care? Fine by me."

Hoodie shook his head, trying to stop him from walking. Alex pulled away and continued on, taunting Hoodie. He backed up towards some stairs, the little bit of wall separating them broken down and not of much protective use now. Brian watched as Alex got closer to the stairs, clearly not paying attention. Alex tripped over a piece of debris on the ground and almost fell backwards down the stairs when Brian rushed forward and grabbed his arm. Alex clung to him in shock. It took him a good two minutes before he let go of Brian and took a few slow steps away from the stairs.

"S-Stairs-"

Brian/Hoodie patted him on the shoulder as a response.

Footsteps approached them and both Jay and Tim came running. Finally all four guys were in the same spot. Hoodie glanced at Alex, a deep sense of dread arising in him. He tried to tell himself it wasn't that big of a deal, but it didn't help. He awaited Alex's words, staring intensely at the ground. But they never came. Alex stayed quiet.

"What happened?" Tim asked, rather causally. "Where'd you find that guy?"

"I slipped, that's all." Alex mumbled. "He was just in a room."

"What happened to you? Why is there blood on you?!" Jay asked, more panicked than Tim was.

"There was this thing, in the vents. Like you saw. It attacked me. It's not that bad."

Hoodie sighed audibly without thinking, so relieved that Alex hadn't immediately blurted his identity out. That meant he probably wasn't going to say anything about it at all. Tim gave him a look and that's when he realized he had made a noise, however small it was.

"So you do have a mouth- you're just a jerk." He chuckled, surprising Hoodie. He didn't laugh often. He held back a laugh of his own, the fact that Tim was so annoyed that he hadn't made a single noise around him up to that point was very funny to him.

Jay inspected Alex's wounds from the creature. Like he had said, they really weren't that bad. Jay backed off after a moment but still looked very worried about him.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"I told you I'm fine. It's not a big deal." Alex huffed.

"I know.. I just- I don't want you, or anyone-" He quickly added. "To get hurt."

Hoodie slowly backed away from the group, towards one of the many dark hallways. Tim glanced at him, but didn't move to stop him. He continued watching until he disappeared into the shadows.

"So what are we going to do now?" Jay asked.