The Forest [septiplier]

5 - Conflict

Mark stopped, glancing over Jack's unconscious form. "What the fuck," he said. Jack's good hand- his left one- was twitching uncontrollably. "This is weird this is weird this is weird," Mark muttered, looking around. The sun was about to set, and they were still a good mile away from the plane. Mark prided himself on his arms, but he didn't know if he could carry Jack all that way and still make it back to the plane in time.

The cabin, too, was not an option. There was no way Mark would ever step foot in that thing again, no sirree. It was vile and gross and nauseating and just not worth it. Especially for such a small cabin. There was no way.

So that left Mark with two options- find another cave (because that worked so well last time) and sleeping here, out in the open. They'd done it before, it wasn't like it was impossible, but... it wasn't exactly ideal. Mark sighed, picking the duffel bag off the floor. He pulled out the gray blanket, looking once more to Jack. He looked so strange there, left arm twitching and face shriveled up in what looked like pain. Mark set the blanket gently over him. He felt so bad, like this was somehow his fault. He was the one who planned the honeymoon, but then again, Jack did help him with it. He shook his head. No way. No one was going to shoulder the blame there.

"Like Jack said, you can't predict a plane crash," Mark said aloud.

"He's going to kill you unless you kill him."

"What the- Who's there?" Mark shouted. A rustle blew through the trees.

"Most call me Dark. And who are you?" Mark felt his heartbeat speed up by the tenfold. "Wait wait. Let me guess. Your plane went down. You're lonely and afraid. That guy's your... brother? Cousin? Frat bro?"

"He's my husband," Mark said, looking around. No one seemed to be close. No one seemed to be talking to him. No one seemed to be there. He took a deep breath.

"Oh, I see. That's how this is. Alright. The two of you are on a honeymoon gone wrong, yeah? And now he's met Anti. He's twitching and screaming and sleeping, oh my!"

"Where are you?" Mark said.

"Isn't it obvious? I'm in your head, you dipshit," the voice said. Mark sighed, sitting on the ground. He was so done.

"Okay. I see. Jack's lost it and now I've lost it too. God we need to go home. I miss my dogs," Mark said.

"You... you don't seem scared," Dark said.

"That's because I'm not? I know you're in my head, so like. How could you possibly hurt me?" Mark said. "You don't exactly have a physical form, you know." He wasn't all that worried. Freaking out wouldn't help, he knew that, so it'd be best to just go with the flow of everything going on.

"I couldn't hurt you? Did you not see what Anti has done to your husband?"

"Yeah, about that. Leave him alone. And who the hell is this Anti guy anyways?" Mark said. "Mess with me all you please, just leave him out of this. How long has this been going on?"

"Irrelevant. Anti is in charge of your husband now. Anti is... well... we used to be close. Times change and now we aren't." Dark seemed almost nostalgic. Mark scoffed.

"So he's your ex. This involves me how?" Mark said.

"He's going to kill you unless you kill him."

Mark paused, looking over to Jack. His eyes were still closed, and he had curled himself into something like a fetal position. He was holding onto the blanket like a lifeline. Tear streaks still lined his cheeks. He was weakened. He was tired. He was a mess. And Mark was just told to kill him.