Cryptid Hunting Gone Wrong: Eyeless Jack Version

The Defining Event (That Started it All)

I knew that starting the order was a bad idea. I knew that either Cody or Jason would do something insanely stupid and rope Jamison and I into it. Yet, I let it go. I gave in to the pressure. Then they started becoming more and more obsessed with their 'cryptid hunting'. I told them that most of the time it was just some animal with mange and that we shouldn't risk it. Of course, none of the others listened. I suppose I was the only sane one.

Now I stare up at their broken bodies, impaled into the branches of the trees. Their entrails strung up like Christmas lights. Bile spilled past my lips as I fell to my hands and knees, releasing the empty contents of my stomach. The acid burned my throat as I sobbed, and my stomach lurched again. Bile spilled again, and it felt like my stomach was traveling up my esophagus. The putrid smell of rotting flesh, excrement, and vomit mixed into a horrible concoction that made my nose burn and stomach lurch. It was disgusting. My hands felt moist and I realized it had landed into a pile of filleted skin.

I silently asked the gods why they let this happen to me, to us, as more bile spilled from my stomach. It was too much. This was all far too much. This was too harsh of a punishment for whatever sins we had committed. Torture was hardly a valid way to get to Valhalla. Knowing that my dear friends would probably end up in some version of Hel's domain made me feel pity for their now-lost souls. I look back up at what once was the lively faces of my friends only to see lifeless shells staring back at me.

I tried to get up. My legs were shaking, I'm sure that my left arm was dislocated, and blood spilled from the hatchet wound in my shoulder. I collapse to the ground again. I had to accept the fact that I was going to die here, just like my friends had. I coughed up blood as static muddled my thoughts. He was here. It looked like Slenderman really wasn't going to give up this hunt, was he. I stared at the crimson fluid that had spilled from my mouth and cried with the last few tears that I could manage to produce. I didn't want to die like this.

Suddenly whatever spell Slender had put me under broke and I heard the telltale noise of some sort of battle. I slowly turn my head to see Masky attacking Slender. I thanked the gods for this small victory. I was glad to see that the internet fan base had him wrong, at least. Hoody appeared from the brush and slowly stalked towards me. My vision blurred with tears. I couldn't fight back even if I thought it would do anything, or even if I could. Everything hurt, ached in a way I would only wish upon my most hated of mortal enemies. Was I always this tired? I wondered.

My attention was brought back to reality as I watch a figure dressed in black tackle Hoody to the ground. A gray hand raised above its head and I noted the sharpened talons at the tips of each of its fingers. It must have been Eyeless Jack, the fanbase was wrong about him too, it seemed. It was then that I made the realization.

This was my only chance to escape.

Despite the intense throbbing pain that it caused me, I forced myself to get up and run away. My lungs already were burning, but I knew I had to keep going. For Tim, Cody, Jamison, and Jason. I couldn't give up now. I couldn't let these... assholes get me, not after all that they have sacrificed for me. My horrible limping broke into a full-on sprint as I pushed myself through the pain. I gained newfound determination as I came upon a clearing. I was so close to freedom and to victory. It was then that I heard someone chasing after me, their joints cracking every once in a while. Shit. Toby must have found me again. The last thing I needed was another hatchet to be embedded into my body.

I heard his maniacal laughter and a hatchet swooshing in the air. Then, something was stuck in my leg, and I fell flat on my face. I didn't look. I didn't want to look. I knew if I looked I'd feel it. Don't get me wrong, I felt it but it was in the background. It didn't hurt any more than the rest of my pain. I got back up and tried to walk again, in doing so, I broke my tibia and fibula. I felt both bones pierce through the skin and I looked down. It was unlike any pain I had felt before. It was almost blinding. I scream. It was a long, loud, blood-curdling noise. I cried even though I couldn't. It hurt to cry, but I knew I couldn't make it. I was dying. The pain slowly faded. Things started to go really fuzzy, and everything felt distant. I lost feeling in my fingers. Then, I heard that clicking again. My world went black.