Masks

Chapter 22

My head was pounding when I regained consciousness and I groggily shifted and looked down at the dark forest floor as I slowly began to sit up. Looking around some more as I gradually recovered, I found myself surrounded by tall, thin trees with large black leaves and obsidian bark. Dread choked me as I took in the unnatural, dead feeling forest I was in. The thick fog didn't help make the place feel any safer- only serving to make the branches appear claw-like and hinder my ability to see anything that might be watching me.

"Where am I? Where did they bring me!?" I stumbled, nearly tripping over a root hidden from my view as I stood up, and whipped my head around trying to find any sign of what direction to go in. "Is this real? It's so cold..."

I shivered and stood there helplessly before remembering I still had my phone on me. Pulling it out of my pocket, I turned it on in hopes there was some chance I could get signal and contact Tim. The screen flickered to life for a split second before warping and turning into a mess of color and static. A curse escaped me and I shoved it back into my pocket before turning in a circle once more to scan my surroundings; all I could do was pick a direction.

Everything I passed as I walked looked exactly the same to the point I eventually felt like I was going in a giant circle. The world was dead silent, as if holding its breath. No animals moving in the mist, not even a breeze through the leaves... It was just silent. My footsteps were the only sound and even they sounded muffled by the damp ground. I continued walking, my arms pressed close to my chest as I shivered, until I gave up and came to a stop when nothing changed.

"Lost?" I inhaled sharply and jumped as Toby spoke up from behind me. "C-careful. We aren't the o-only things he-here."

"Get- get the fuck away from me." My voice shook as my paranoia of being surrounded worsened.

"We couldn't break you before... but you're home now- welcome home by the way. He'll break you soon enough." Zac laughed and dropped down from the lowest branch of a nearby tree. "You know, if Tim doesn't go into his Masky state and kill you first. Haha, you didn't actually believe you could trust him, did you? How do you think we knew where you were? How we knew you'd be alone?"

"Liar!" I glared at him, hating how I hadn't seen this coming.

"Maybe, maybe not." He shrugged and kept that stupid insane grin on his face. "But hey, Tim's here somewhere too so if you really want to find out feel free to find him."

"When did this happen to you? I thought I could trust you... You said you wanted to help!" Anger shot through me and I lunged at Zac, shoving him back into the tree.

The hilt of Toby's hatchet fell across my throat as he dragged me back while Zac merely sighed and brushed himself off. "Let her go Ticci. Otherwise the game won't be fun."

I gagged as the pressure increased for a moment before feeling it disappear as I was shoved forward. "D-don't call m-me th-at!"

The monster with Zac's face didn't even bother to acknowledge the response as he continued on, his arm wrapping around my shoulders while he gave another borderline psychotic chuckle. "Here's the deal. We're going to hunt you and Tim down like animals. Now, if we- or anything else living here- catches you... We'll kill you slowly and painfully. Our master will then either leave you to die or if you could still be of use, will just take control of your mind completely until he's ready to dispose of you. If somehow you can defeat us... well that won't happen hahaha..."

"If y-you come with u-us it'll be less p-painful." Toby cut in casually before cracking his knuckles. "But t-hat won't be to-o fun f-for us."

I tried to pull away from Zac's grip but he easily tugged me back over to him and unclipped the sheath from his belt. A familiar hunting knife was shoved into my hand; it was the same one I'd nearly stabbed him with in the past.

"We'll at least give you a fighting chance. Now, you can try killing us with that or- and stay with me here- you could use it on Tim. Hahah... You don't know if you can really trust him. He's a liar... Killing him would only benefit you and your friends."

"I'm not... I can't kill him." I stared at the knife, slowly pulling it out of the sheath to look at the shiny blade. "My friends are dead no matter what I do..."

I suddenly lashed out at him, the blade barely missing his chest as he jerked back and grabbed my arm. The knife fell from my grip as he twisted my wrist and pushed me to my knees. His cold eyes held amusement, as if he'd expected me to attack him, while Toby only shook his head in annoyance.

"I could kill you right here and now." Zac released my wrist and kicked me onto my back, the pain making me cough as the steel toed boot made contact with my chest. I continued coughing as he picked up the knife and stood over me. "...No... That would be too easy..."

He drove the knife into the ground next to my head and knelt down, putting a hand on my throat to keep me from moving. "Getting running, Pawn... We'll be back to find you soon enough."

Zac stood back up and walked off, Toby following him after he sent one last murderous look back my way. I watched them leave as I caught my breath before slowly rolling to my side and getting to my feet, pulling the knife out of the ground as I went. By now they were probably long gone- not that it was a bad thing- but I wasn't going to stick around and wait for them to come back.

"I have to find a way out..." I started heading in the opposite direction they'd disappeared in, wincing as I rubbed my sternum; that kick was definitely going to leave a bruise.

Things didn't get better after my little run in with the two proxies. I constantly jumped at any sudden sound or strange shapes in the mist, unsure if anything was really there or if my mind was simply playing tricks on me. The dark, overcast look over the forest never changed, which only served to make it more difficult to tell how much time was passing.

As I continued on however, I was finally able to make out small distinct changes to the area around me. The trees still didn't appear to be ending anytime soon but I at least knew I wasn't just circling the same area. I wasn't sure where I was going but I hoped to at least find Tim and figure out how we were going to get out of this- assuming they hadn't turned him against me.

I stumbled tiredly as time wore on and nervously looked around, anticipating an attack from something out there. Nothing moved, nothing made a sound, but I felt like I was constantly being watched. Not wanting to be left out in the open for something to kill me, I shifted my focus on finding a tree with low enough branches to climb up and rest in. Given the amount around me, it didn't take too long to find one and I settled down a few branches up from the lowest. It wasn't the safest feeling place but I still had Zac's hunting knife if something did try climbing up after me.