Masks

Chapter 49

My joints popped as I sat up and glanced around at the tunnel. The chilly night time breeze made me shiver, though being cold was the least of my concerns at the moment. I could see Tim lying on the ground unconscious while deeper into the tunnel I could make out two unmoving figures. Skully was the closer of the two and seemed to have collapsed on his way over to us, one hand wrapped over his side as if in pain. I faintly recalled hearing a gunshot go off and assumed he'd been hit by the bullet.

"Is he even alive?" I stared past Skully and focused on Alex, curious as to why The Operator had decided not to save him once more. "Because I hurt it? ...Or maybe it was too late."

I began getting to my feet only to shout in pain as I bent my injured knee and put weight on it. The sound echoed through the tunnel before dying off without waking the others. With the lack of response from them I almost assumed I was in a nightmare... but something told me this wasn't. The pain was far too real and this was where I'd passed out at.

"We need to get home... or at least out of here." I once again tried to stand only to cry out again and fall to my side.

This time the silence after the echoes faded was broken by the sound of someone walking through the trees. I tensed and stared in the direction of the snapping twigs and rustling leaves. A human sized shadow was sneaking through the trunks toward us. My body shook with nerves and I carefully shifted closer to Tim, reaching into his pockets to find his knife. He didn't even react to the action, making my anxiety over if he was even alive shoot up.

"He has to be... We got out... He can't die here, not after everything...!" I glanced back up in the direction of the figure to find he'd gotten to the rocks. In the faint light from the moon I could make out Hoodie's faded yellow hoodie and red frowning face. "Great..."

I forced myself to stand, clenching my teeth to hold back another cry as I put some weight on my injured leg. There was little doubt in my mind that if I tried to take a step I'd collapse back to the ground. We stared at each other for a moment before Hoodie made his way closer and looked around at the scene.

"Does he think I did this?" I tightened my grip on the knife, knowing it would do nothing to help me should he take out his gun.

Hoodie continued closer, seemingly observing my condition along with everyone else's. I glared as he approached, preparing to fight if I absolutely had to. He roughly shoved me back against the side of the tunnel and twisted the knife from my hand, forcing my wrist out of socket. I muffled another yelp and trembled as I saw the gun in his free hand.

My body slumped to the ground as he let go and pointed it down at me. "Heh... What? You're... going to kill me... and then what? Them too?"

I coughed, starting to feel ill as I shook from the cold and stress. The cough worsened to the point I was hunched over, awkwardly trying to avoid further hurting my knee, while spitting out dark liquid onto the ground. In the lighting I couldn't tell if it was blood or azoth. Hoodie stepped back as the fit slowly eased up and I was able to catch my breath again.

"Is... is that why you're here...? Why we're here...? So you... can kill us?" I stared up at him, knowing he could pull the trigger at any moment. "Do you really think it'll stop? Killing us won't stop it... You have to stop It. Not the sources... I'm trying to help. If you had any shred of Brian left in you, wouldn't you at least help Tim? He was your friend- I'm sure Skully might've been too."

I gingerly shifted and sat up against the cold metal, wondering what was going on behind that masked face. "I get you hate me- I wouldn't doubt 'saving' you resulted in torture before you escaped and then I tried to kill you... But do you really think killing me fixes anything? It left because of me, because I know how to stop both of them."

The last part was purely me trying to save my skin. Sure the mark hurt them- and unfortunately me as well- but at least it somewhat stopped the two entities. I was sure in the future they'd get bolder with their attacks- Slenderman already had- but at least for now it worked. The real question was how long could I keep it up before it killed me.

Hoodie slowly lowered his weapon and glanced over at Tim. For a second I feared he'd shoot Tim then and there, but Hoodie merely turned his back to his past friend and moved to check on Skully. I could only assume the skull-masked man was still clinging to life, though I couldn't tell from where I was. Finally, the hooded man stood over Alex. I couldn't tell what he was thinking with the mask over his face, but he jabbed the body harshly with a shoe before looking back at me.

I shied away despite the distance between us. "I-I'd burn the body... I... I don't know if those things can bring them back after dying but they did when he was on the verge of death so... I'd rather not find out..."

The frowning face continued to stare at me for a few more seconds before turning away. I watched silently as Hoodie came closer, moved past me, and took a lighter from Tim's pocket. Again, Tim's lack of response worried me. I waited until Hoodie walked away before crawling over to Tim's side. A pulse beat steadily under my fingers as I pressed them first to his wrist, and then his neck.

"At least he's alive..." I shook him gently, hoping by some miracle it would manage to wake him up... Only for disappointment to set in. "He needs his medicine... I wonder if Skully has some on him- he stole a bottle, right?"

I slowly hobbled over to the masked man, sharp pain flashing through my knee with each movement. Dragging myself over to him paid off however, as I quickly managed to find the bottle in a coat pocket. A gloved hand weakly grabbed my uninjured wrist and I froze, surprised Skully was even half conscious enough to do that. It dropped again a moment later and I could hear a wheezed sigh escaping the man as he struggled to stay conscious. My gaze shifted to his side where the bullet had shot him. I didn't think it was bleeding anymore but that didn't mean he wasn't going to die from blood loss.

"Hoodie's the only one here who can actually do anything." I once again looked over at the man to see he was still working on burning the body. "Doubt he'd be much help getting out of here- he barely seems to be tolerating us."

As if reading my thoughts- or more likely feeling me watching him- Hoodie turned to look back at me. I broke eye contact and shuffled my way back over to Tim. Another cough escaped me as I flopped down next to him in exhaustion and agony from the stress I'd put on my knee and freshly dislocated wrist. I didn't want to trust Hoodie not to shoot us, but at the moment I could barely stay awake let alone fight him off.

"We should've risked the other way..." I whimpered as I accidentally tried bending my wrist, tears pricking my eyes. "I must look so pathetic... I don't even have my mask to hide behind..."

"I'll just need to make another one." The menacingly whispered thought was quickly overshadowed by everything else running through my mind.

I shifted closer to Tim, making sure I could still feel his heartbeat to reassure myself he wasn't dead while I kept my slowly darkening vision on Hoodie. All I could do at this point was pray he wouldn't finish us off and that The Operator wouldn't try showing his face- or lack thereof- anytime soon.