The Call (A Marble Hornets inspired story)

Chapter 12: Attack

"Tim. Tim! Timothy, Wake up!" I feel someone shaking me, my whole body in pain as though I just had the worst seizure in the world. I open my eyes, tasting dirt and blood. I see...a mask. Seth's mask. I see Jay and...we're in a forest...Rosswood...My memory starts to come back to me. He was taken...I went to find him...Then..did The Operator appear..? I remember that I couldn't breathe...I had a camera....That's right...But, what then? I sit up. Fuck, my head is killing me. Did I pass out? I must've done, right? I look around. Seth reaches towards me, taking a mask off my face. I didn't even know I had it on.. Wait. Does that mean-"How do you feel, Tim?" He asks me, forcing me to take what I think was paracetamol.

I look around more, It's a random part of the forest i've never been in before. I shift, causing my whole body to flare up with pain again. I look at my arms which are covered in bandages. "What the fuck happened?" I ask, about to look at Jay to make sure he's alright. However, Brian's kneeling in front of him and prevents me from doing so. "You..lost control..." Seth admits, sounding tired. "What's wrong with Jay...?" I ask, knowing he's hiding something. Hell, how am I even meant to trust them? They've attacked me before, why wouldn't they do it again? I see Seth shift, scratching his arm nervously. "Y-you..You don't wanna know..." He says, making me feel pretty concerned for Jay's health. I try to look around Brian, but Seth doesn't let me. "Seriously, Tim. You don't want to see." He responds, grabbing my shoulder and making me sit up straight again. Another wave of pain hits me as I move. Something bad must've happened to cause me this much pain. "What the fuck did you do to him?" I ask bitterly. "You're asking the wrong question, Tim. It's not what I did to him. It's what Alex did to him." he says, causing my heart to begin racing again. Wait. Alex is alive? H- he can't be..."Don't lie to him, Seth. We haven't seen Alex for ages." Brian says, walking over to us, still obscuring Jay from my vision. "Yes, but he is alive. Why can't we use that to our advantage?" Seth argues, standing up to be eye to eye with Brian's mask. "He's going to figure out what happened sooner or later." Brian replies, taking out a camera and turning it on. Wait...Did I attack Jay? I...I couldn't have...right? I...Did Brian record it? "H-he's alive?" I ask, going to stand up but am forced back down from pain. "Tim, don't move, seriously. Your injures are really severe." Brian says, pushing me back against the tree. "B-but...Alex is alive?" I repeat. They both look at me. God, their masks are so creepy. "Yes." Brian says, a hint of anger in his voice. "Here." He goes to hand me a camera but Seth grabs it first. "I thought we agreed not to show him!" He hisses sharply, removing the tape and putting it in his pocket, returning the camera to Brian. "He'll figure it out eventually, Seth." He says again, replacing the empty slot with a new tape as he starts to film me. I look directly into the lens, the sight reminding me that Jay is still here. I look back at Seth. "What happened to Jay?" I ask sternly. I'm not going to let them ignore the question this time. They look at eachother and Brian whispers something to Seth. "But he-...Fine." He says, handing Brian the tape. "Thank you for finally coming around" He says, switching out the tapes and handing me the camera. Do I really want to watch this? I look at the image frozen on the screen. It's a shot of the forest, Jay being in the background kneeling down over something. I take a deep breath and press play.

"Tim! Tim are you ok? Come on, wake up!" Jay yells, shaking my unconscious body. The camera moves forwards so that the holder, who I'm guessing is Seth from how fluid it was, is just out of Jay's view. I watch as I start to wake up. "T-Tim! You're ok!" He says, reaching out to help me up. I suddenly tackle him, my hands around his neck. I was choking him. Seth leaves the treeline and yanks me off Jay, dropping the camera in the process. We struggle and I end up knocking Seth to the ground. I go back to attacking Jay, this time with the pocket knife I had on me. I silently thank God that the camera landed facing away from him. I could hear him screaming. The sound made me tear up, I can't believe I was attacking him. "Tim!" I hear Brian yell as I get pulled off Jay again. We land in front of the camera as I see Brian restraining me. He puts the mask on me and keeps a firm hold on the arm I was using to hold the knife, not letting me get anywhere near Jay. "Get off me, Brian!" I yell at him, grabbing the knife with my other hand and stabbing his arm so he'd let go of me. He recoils in pain as I begin attacking Jay again. "Tim! Stop! Please!" I hear Jay beg. He was crying. I could tell from his voice. I feel myself begin to cry as the video continues. Brian grabs me again, this time Seth holds my other arm as they pull me off. "Let go of me!" I yell, struggling to get out of their grasp. "Tim, calm down! Stop trying to fight us! We're on your side!" Seth yells, taking a pill out of his pocket. The pill wasn't like any i'd ever seen before. It was a rough, greenish pill. Brian looks at Seth. "Don't." he warns, grabbing Seth's arm just before he can reach the mask. "Do we have any other choice?" He says desperately. I see Brian look at me, then at the pill. He lets go of his arm and Seth forces the pill into my mouth. I watch as I go down to my knees struggling before finally swallowing the pill. I begin to cough violently, my mask already being shifted upwards allowing me easier access to breathe. it doesn't matter though as I start to cough up blood, my airways already being cut off. I keep fighting them, getting out of their grasp a few times before being grabbed again. Every time i'd get out I notice i'd have cuts from where they were holding me, making me get noticeably weaker. I stop coughing as I start to go into a seizure, making them let go. I shut my eyes, not wanting to see any more of the video.

I feel someone take the camera from me and I start to shake from all the emotions I was feeling. I can't believe it. I just nearly killed Jay. "After your seizure, you didn't pass out like we expected you to." Brian says, switching the tape back to the one he was using to film. "You got more aggressive and we had no choice but to fight. You ended up getting badly injured.." He continues, holding up the camera so I could see my reflection. I had multiple bandages around my chest, stomach, and arms. There were multiple stab and bullet holes in my shirt, which seemed to be quickly thrown over me once the bandages were put on. They seemed expertly done. "However, I believe I did pretty good work on you." He says, looking me over proudly. I'm confused for a second but then I remember, he always wanted to be a nurse. I completely forgot about that. "Didn't think a nurse could do a doctor's job" I joke. He laughs, making me feel like trusting them more. He looks into the forest and his laughter stops.

Both Seth and I look at him. I notice his breathing gets a bit heavier, as though he was panicking. "Brian, are you alright?" I hear Seth ask, nudging his arm a bit. "I...I...W-we need to get out. Now." He says, stepping back slightly. I see Seth look in the same direction and freeze as well. "Fuck" I hear him mutter. I watch as Brian grabs his gun and ducks behind a tree. Seth does the same, only without the gun. I hear shots being fired behind me and watch as Brian shoots whoever was there, ducking back in after the attacker started shooting again. I begin to feel light headed, but not in the way the 'sickness' made me feel. It felt different. I see Brian fall back, dropping his gun and grabbing his arm instead. He got hit. Seth runs over and grabs the gun, going behind the same tree Brian was using and shooting at the attacker. I hear the attacker's gun run out of ammo, forcing whoever it was to reload. Seth takes this opportunity to run at them and get a close range shot in. I hear someone scream. I can't tell who it was but Brian started to panic again, making me assume it was Seth who got shot. I listen to the struggle going on behind me. My heart is pounding in my chest as I keep my eyes trained on Brian. He's wrapped a bandage around the wound, not that well though as he was shot in his right arm. I hear Seth coughing and I see Brian look over at me. He gets up and look over in the attacker's direction. I watch as he looks at the ground and runs away, leaving me to the mercy of whoever was there and making me lose all trust I had towards them. I hear their footsteps get louder as I lean my head against the tree, closing my eyes and hoping whoever was there wouldn't notice me. I hear the footsteps get closer to me as I start to feel lightheaded again. What's wrong with me. Then I remember the pill Seth made me take when I woke up. Did he drug me? I fall to the side, struggling to stay conscious as whoever was there walked over to where Jay was. I hear them walk over to me and kneel down. "Aren't I happy to see you" I hear a male say, feeling the tip of a gun press against the center of my chest. I open my eyes to see who the person attacking us was, and it was none other than Alex Kralie.